


Gravity Falls - Mabel's Mind Palace

by Spywi



Series: Gravity Falls - Mabel's Mind Palace [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: AU Gravtiy Falls, Brain, Dipper's Mind Palace, Entity, F/M, Fanfic, Fanfiction, GF, Gen, Gravity Falls - Freeform, Gravity Falls AU, Gravity Falls Oregon, Mabel's Mind Palace, Magic, Memory, Memory Palace, Pines Twins, Shooting Star, Tumblr, Twincest, Twins, dipper x mabel, gravity falls college, mabel x dipper, method of loci, mind, pcest, pine tree, pinecest - Freeform, pinescest - Freeform, spywi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-15 20:30:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5798875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spywi/pseuds/Spywi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I read somewhere on Tumblr that Mabel and Dipper are technically geniuses for their age, as Dipper was doing complicated math and Mabel could make amazing art sculptures. So I have this headcanon that Mabel is actually really good at using memory techniques, as creativity is actually a big part of these techniques, which would make her just as smart if not better than Dipper at retaining information, as I'd imagine Dipper takes rote learning very seriously. Also this would be future Pines twins going to the same college and taking the same upper-division Psychology course.</p>
<p>Most information and quotes either come from my own experience and research or from Kevin Horsley's UNLIMITED MEMORY: How to Use Advanced Learning Strategies to Learn Faster, Remember More and be More Productive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mabel's Mind Palace

"Whoa, that was an intense episode!" squealed Mabel from her perch on the arm of the couch. Dipper clicked the power button on the remote.

"Yeah, but in retrospect, it was kind of predictable," he said, shrugging.

"But Dipper, that guy using the mind-whatsit thing to figure out the exact newspaper article? That's so cool!"

"So? He read and researched a lot of crime reports and newspaper articles, and the right article came to him after he concentrated hard enough. Nothing special."

Mabel flopped onto the mass of pillows that Dipper had set up for himself on the ground.

"Still, the way he moved his arms around and the pictures flashed and changed like he was on an actual hologram computer thingy! I wanna try it!"

"Mabel, you already did something similar, back when the whole, um, you know . . ."

Mabel and Dipper both shuddered at the memory.

"C'mon Dipper, that was Mabel Land; that was just me controlling the world cuz that's what the bubble wanted. This is my brain, I wanna do what he did."

"Mabel, that was just a TV show's representation of what's going on in his mind, it's not really something realistic," said Dipper, leaning back against the couch.

"You sure? I'm pretty sure that I saw something like that in one of Grunkle Ford's old notes."

"Wait, when did you read those? I thought Bill destroyed them, remember?"

"I have my sources," said Mabel, trying to wink while unintentionally scrunching up her face in the process. "Let's just say that Grunkle Stan still had those photocopies he made a long time ago."

"Fair point. So what did his notes say?"

"Just something about the term that the detective guy used. _Mind Palace_ "

Dipper looked to the ceiling, trying to recall what his great uncle had mentioned on the subject.

"That was just a mental experiment, Sis. He was never able to get to work on his because of what Bill did. He wanted to use the technique as a safe house for his mind, but with Bill being able to influence dreams and enter into people's minds, he figured that something else would be more effective."

"Um, duh, I don't plan on using it as a defense mechanism, dork. I'm just curious to see if it works in real life," said Mabel, slapping Dipper's cheek with the sleeve of her sweater.

"H-Hey, cut it out, will ya? Bleh, llama hair tastes disgusting," said Dipper, picking loose hairs out of his shirt.

"You're no fun. Whatever, go study for the exam, I'll go research this on my own," said Mabel, getting up to leave the living room.

"You have to go study too, you know," Dipper called out after his sister. "The exam is a huge chunk of our grade!"

"I'll be fine, I'll study afterwards," she called back from the stairs.

* * *

A quick Internet search proved helpful as there were many useful sites and books that would help with learning more about this technique. The Mind Palace, in essence, combines a lot of memory tricks and techniques in order to remember a huge amount of information.

Mabel read aloud:

 

> _First, imagine places that you can visualize easily. It can be your home, school, car, route to work, etc. You have to know them very well and can easily see them in your mind's eye. Next, pick a starting point and important checkpoints starting from your first one. For instance, if you pick the door to your room as point 1, go clockwise around your room and label points or pieces of furniture as the next ones sequentially. To start, imagine big pieces of furniture as your points, but as you get used to imagining your scene, choose smaller points or break the piece of furniture into smaller points._

"Huh, okay, let's try that then." Mabel closed her eyes and imagined the twins' shared bedroom in the shack. Point 1 was the door, point 2 was the closet to the left, point 3 was Mabel's mirror, point 4 was her bed, point 5 was the window between their beds, point 6 was Dipper's bed, and point 7 was Dipper's mirror. Seven points to start out.

 

> _Next, we create the images. For this exercise, we'll use foreign words:_
> 
> _Spanish:_
> 
> _**Tiger** _ _is_ _**Tigre** _ _, and it sounds like "tea" and "grey," so imagine a_ _**tiger** _ _drinking his_ _**tea** _ _that has turned_ _**grey.** _
> 
> _**Arm** _ _is_ _**Brazo** _ _, so imagine a_ _**bra** _ _is_ _**sew** _ _n onto your arm._
> 
> _Italian:_
> 
> _**Chicken** _ _is_ _**Polo** _ _, so imagine playing_ _**polo** _ _with the ball being replaced by the_ _**chicken.** _
> 
> _**Cat** _ _is_ _**Gatto.** _ _Imagine saying to a friend, "You've_ _**got to** _ _hold on to my_ _**cat** _ _!"_
> 
> _Zulu:_
> 
> _**Dog** _ _is_ _**inja** _ _(eenja). Think of a_ _**dog** _ _who is secretly a n_ _**inja** _ _._
> 
> _**Snake** _ _is_ _**Inyoka** _ _(eenyo'kaa). Imagine a_ _**snake** _ _slithering_ _**in your car.** _
> 
> _Japanese:_
> 
> _**Chest** _ _is_ _**Mune** _ _(Mooneh). Imagine_ _**money** _ _growing out of your_ _**chest.** _
> 
> _The next step is to place each newly made wacky picture in each location on the path you've created. Review your pictures along your path forwards and backwards and you've got yourself a set of newly memorized information!_

Mabel giggled to herself as she let her imagination take control. In her mind's eye, she imagined a tiger with a fist attached to its side, drinking tea that changed from bright red to a dull grey. Opening the closet, she imagined Lil' Gideon, where she promptly stapled a bra to his arm and shut the door on his screams. She didn't know how to play polo, so she instead imagined a chicken wearing a bright polo shirt, looking at its own reflection in her mirror. On her bed she saw Grenda and Candy, and imagined tossing a cat in their direction. A ninja dog broke through their window, making a cool pose, and a car appearing on Dipper's bed, complete with a snake wrapping its tail around the steering wheel. She imagined twelve-year-old Dipper staring into his own mirror, sad that he didn't have any chest hair, when suddenly instead of hair, dollar bills started forming on his chest.

Reviewing the little movie scene she created backwards and forwards in her mind several times, she returned to the article she was reading:

 

> _Test Yourself:_
> 
> _What is the Spanish word of tiger?_
> 
> _What is the Italian word of cat?_
> 
> _What is the Zulu word for dog?_
> 
> _What is the Japanese word for chest?_
> 
> _What is the Italian word for chicken?_
> 
> _What is the Zulu word for snake?_
> 
> _What is the Spanish word for arm?_

"Tigre, gatto, inja, mune, polo, inyoka, and brazo!" Mabel said out loud almost immediately, then jumped up and down while cheering. This was easy, because she was so creative already. This was fun, because it's wacky and silly. Mabel looked to her textbook, and wondered what would happen if . . .

* * *

Dipper looked up at the ceiling, wondering why Mabel was so quiet. Usually she'd be running all over the place, making noises and singing while he was studying, but not tonight. She'd been holed up in her room all day, while he's been at the kitchen table studying for their final exam the next day. Going upstairs to check on her, he knocked quietly and peeked into her room.

The room was a mess, littered with what looked like lists and notes combined. Mabel had on some study piano music and was almost in a meditative state, mumbling incoherently. Occasionally she would open her eyes and jot down something, cross out something else, and go back into a trance.

Dipper smiled, then quietly went down to the kitchen. Best to let her study in her own way.

* * *

The day of the exam came, and the twins sat next to each other. Dipper, having barely spoken to his sister all morning, gave her a small smile before the exams were handed out. She smiled back, bags under her eyes, and gave his hand a small squeeze before returning to her last-minute review. Dipper glanced at the list she was poring over, and was surprised at what he saw at the top:

 

> _William Wundt | Darth Vader holding baby w/ PSYCH on forehead | Nazi Labrador w/ flag (also says Psych)_

While he knew who William Wundt was, the rest of the list confused him. Was this the Mind Palace technique that she had found? Seemed silly, but if Mabel was focusing this intensely, it must work. Dipper shrugged once more, then focused on his own review.

The sound of scratching pencils and frantic erasing quickly filled the room. Mabel was having a blast. The answers came to her so fast because she already knew which picture meant what definition, and where exactly she stored each image. _Who was the father of psychology? Um duh, William Wundt, of course (Vader + baby with PSYCH forehead = father of psychology). What are the parts of the brain, and what does each part do? Easy, I have a brain sectioned off with pictures for each definition stored right next to the TV in the living room. Difference between monozygotic twins and dizygotic twins? Um hello? Twins are an easy one. Childhood bedroom, here I come!_

* * *

Dipper stared at his exam sheet, pondering over the next question. He heard a sound from next to him, and looked up to see that Mabel was turning in her exam already.

There were still two hours still remaining on the clock. She skipped out the door, giving a wink to the bewildered Dipper, and shut the door behind her.

After the exam period was over, Dipper met up with Mabel at the on-campus Starbucks where she was waiting for him.

"How the heck did you finish so fast? I was less than halfway through and you hand your paper in after only one hour?"

"Hey, I told you I was gonna do my own studying after I learn about the Mind Palace. Well, I did. I memorized the entire textbook," said Mabel proudly. A couple of students from their class looked over at her in amazement.

Dipper, with the same expression of amazement on his face, leaned forward.

"You mean to tell me that all those lists, all that meditation, all the _wacky and silly_ stuff I saw on those papers, that was you memorizing an entire textbook in _one night?!_ "

"Yup yup, Bro-Bro!" smiled Mabel. Dipper couldn't say no to that smile, so he happily listening while Mabel started rambling about her studies.

"It's so amazing, Dip! The books all said that creativity is the biggest asset to the technique, and it IS! I had to make so many wacky pictures and make so many Mind Palaces, I used the Mystery Shack, our childhood home, schools, I even had to use Mabel Land and Stan's Mind on occasion because I ran out of places, and the information stuck in my mind! I breezed past the multiple choice because my mind was all like BOOM BOOM BAM here's the right answer, gurl!" I didn't miss a single picture in my mind, everything stayed right there, and I am so HAPPY WHY AM I SO HAPPY!?"

"Mabes, calm down, people are staring," said Dipper, blushing a bit.

"Who cares, I did AWESOME, and I can't wait to see the scores!"

* * *

Later that night, the professor posted on the class forum that the TA's were in the process of inputting grades. Dipper was spoon-feeding Mabel ice cream while she was laying on the couch, having burned out most of her brain energy on the exam. Dipper's email notification beeped, indicating that the professor has posted the final exam scores. While Mabel stayed sprawled on the couch, Dipper pulled up their grades on each of the twins' laptops.

The scores were clear:

 

> _Dipper Pines: 93/100_
> 
> _Mabel Pines: 120/100_

"Mabel . . ." said Dipper slowly.

"Wha . . .?" moaned his sister from the couch.

"You aced the final, and then some."

"Wait, WHAT?!" shouted Mabel, sitting up suddenly. She scrambled over the couch, knocking cushions everywhere, then plonked down behind Dipper, putting her head on his shoulder.

"You got every single question right, plus every single extra credit question right. The professor even put a comment on your grade: _You are the first person in the history of my class, as well as the history of the campus to get this high of a score in this course. I am very impressed and wish to use your exam as an example for future classes. Also, I appreciate the glitter all over the exam. Nice touch._ "

Mabel responded with screams and danced around the room, yelling 'Alpha Twin!' between jumps. Dipper closed the laptops, and watched his sister happy-dance on the couch. He's not gonna hear the end of this for a while, is he?

* * *

Epilogue: Mabel goes on to use the Mind Palace for the rest of her exams, as well as learning all sorts of skills in a short amount of time. Dipper is her supplier of sugar to keep her brain working, and Mabel eventually teaches Dipper her secrets and the twins go on to become the top two students in the entire college campus.


	2. Dipper's Mind Palace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't read the first chapter, please do so as this story makes more sense by reading chapter 1 first. That's where I explain the mind palace and a rough estimate of how it works, whereas this one is more story and slightly less explaining.
> 
> I'm really psyched about continuing this story, mainly because I was a little bit inspired and encouraged by a really long and really nice review on FFN from chapter 1. In short, Dipper learns the mind palace through Mabel, and we get a glimpse of how Mabel is utilizing her mind palace and basically expanding on my epilogue from the previous chapter. Cheers!

"Mabel, this is stupid, I can't . . ."

"Shh, Dipper, trust the silliness," Mabel whispered.

"I tried but my brain works differently, I don't have the imagination that you're capable of."

Dipper sits on the edge of his bed, glaring at his sister, who was currently standing in front of him with a textbook in hand. After studying like crazy for weeks before that exam, sacrificing health and sanity to pass this class which he needed to advance in his major, he manages to just barely get that A while Mabel memorizes a textbook in one night and gets over 100%. Sure, a few memory tricks here and there help with the study process, but he didn't think that they actually helped in the long run.

Until now, that is.

"Can't you just trust me on this one? I know that smarts are your thing, but give it a chance, and I promise you that you'll have fun," she says, offering the textbook to him. "Plus, your exam is, like, three days away and you're still struggling."

He grabs the book with one hand, then sighs and flips to a page.

"Okay, fine, we'll do it your way, 'kay? And if it doesn't work, I'm gonna go back to how I normally study," he said. He had to at least give it a chance, seeing as it worked for her. Mabel smiled, then flopped onto the bed next to him. Scooting over so that his leg wasn't brushing against hers, he asked,

"Okay, so how do we start?"

"Give me something nerdy that you gotta study, and I'll give you some images that I figure you'd recognize, or you can make up your own if you want."

Dipper scanned the chapter that he'd opening up to, and quickly found something from his study guide:

> _Steps in Analyzing Human Remains:  
>  1) Human or Animal_
> 
> _2) Minimum number of individuals_
> 
> _3) Determining Sex_
> 
> _4) Determining Age_
> 
> _5) Estimating Stature_

Dipper looked at Mabel, who was staring at him with a blank face.

"This is for my forensics class. If I'm gonna become someone who studies paranormal happenings, then . . ."

"Blah blah blah, we get it already, Han Solo. Okay, so the first one is determining if it's human or animal, right?"

"Wrong reference, and yeah, so?"

"Well for starters, start off in the Mystery Shack, at the door."

"Uh huh," said Dipper, closing his eyes to help him imagine.

"Imagine the splinters in the wood, the cracks here and there in the glass, the sound of tourists all around, and then BAM!" Mabel suddenly screamed, making Dipper jump. "You see a clone of yourself, wearing that stupid wolf costume Grunkle Stan made you wear a long time ago."

In his mind's eye, he really could imagine it easily: the Mystery Shack gift shop, slightly off its hinges, so it never really closed properly, taped up in places where Stan had either thrown something at it or where it had started to fall apart. He imagined Tyrone, wearing the wolf costume plus his hat with the number 2 written on it. He could still feel the itchiness of the fake fur, the occasional tick or flea he found in the hair, and the exact words that Stan used to scam gullible tourists into thinking it was real.

Dipper turned to look at Mabel.

"Mabel, how exactly does that help me?"

"Think about it. Stan pitched to the tourists that you were part boy, part wolf, right? There you go: analyzing whether you are _human or animal_."

Dipper stared at her some more, and then stared at the page. This was . . . actually making more sense to him. What's more, he could easily translate this image back to what the information actually was.

"Keep going," he said.

* * *

Mabel walked him through the rest of the little list to get him started, and gave him some pointers on review and walking through the path he set in his mind's eye. After the front door, his next stop was the cash register, where he imagined _gnomes combining to form a human shape._ At the vending machine, he pictured the glass as a screen playing _an episode of Danny Phantom_ , where Danny unintentionally discovered the sex of the gorilla by looking . . . um, there. Next was the door leading into the house from the shop, where he imagined _Grunkle Stan_ aging before his eyes (he shuddered slightly at that one). Next, circling around to the shelf where he first picked out his pine tree hat, he imagined Mabel, playing around with the magic flashlight, making her _shrink and grown in size_. He kept on going until he made it to the end of the page.

After he'd run through the pictures silently in his head for about a minute, Mabel quizzed him while keeping the textbook page hidden from him. Since the images that he had made were personal to his life, the answers came almost instantaneously, much to the twins' delight.

"And . . . right again! Whoo, perfection, full marks!" said Mabel, letting the book fall onto Dipper's pillow. Dipper was astonished. He could recall all the terms and definitions he'd memorized with little to no effort. He glanced at his watch. He had started making pictures a little less than ten minutes ago, and he had already finished about a textbook chapter's worth of information.

"Whoo, good grades, here we come!" shouted Mabel, standing up on Dipper's bed triumphantly.

"Slow down, Mabes, I still have the rest of the study guide to complete."

"Ooh, ooh! I can help, I can help, I already took all of my finals anyways."

"Must be lucky to be you, isn't it, huh sis?" said Dipper, playfully elbowing her.

"Ugh, my brain is still recovering, but at least I can now focus on memorizing other things."

"Such as . . .?"

Mabel beamed, and showed him something on her phone.

"I'm gonna memorize everything!"

It was an app that worked kind of like flashcards, but there were bookmarked subjects on everything from memorizing long strings of numbers to memorizing foreign languages, to even memorizing trivia for different book genres and movies.

"Good luck with that, but first off help me with studying for these classes, please."

* * *

The next two days flew by rather quickly, and Dipper was surprised at how much his mind could hold. He already knew that the brain was capable of holding a lot of information – heck, he'd even been in Grunkle Stan's mind, where pretty much all of Stan's memories were there in nearly perfect picture and color condition. The mind palace was a pretty nifty tool. His palace in this case consisted of several buildings from Gravity Falls – The Mystery Shack (Ford's lab included), the forest, and the downtown area - where several rooms per building were dedicated to a chapter from his textbook. He made the images smaller so that he could fit more per room, and more creative, almost reminiscent of Mabel Land. He stopped periodically to write down lists similar to Mabel's, and reviewed every few images so that he wouldn't forget a previous one along the way. Eventually, he found that he was starting to borrow images from Mabel's life, including some of her latest boy crushes. He couldn't place why, but Mabel cropped up a lot in a lot of his images. She warned him to avoid using immediate family for some of the more, um, not safe for work images, but he couldn't avoid doing so simply because he couldn't think of another image that would work. Forcing himself not to overthink those particular images, Dipper continued using the mind palace.

* * *

The morning of Dipper's exams. He had three finals, and was unlucky enough to have them all scheduled on the same day. Mabel opened Dipper's door, wondering how he was doing. She had purposefully kept quiet around Dipper, knowing that he was probably overthinking his mind palaces and reviewing like crazy, so she kept conversations light between study sessions. She had used her time to focus on her own little project, where she had basically learned rudimentary Japanese, the entire periodic table, about half of the facts in that one book in the bathroom that just contains a bunch of random facts, and even dedicated an entire house in her mind just for learning Pinterest life and fashion to have them all scheduled on the same day. Mabel opened Dipper's door, wondering how he was doing. She had purposefully kept quiet around Dipper, knowing that he was probably overthinking his mind palaces and reviewing like crazy, so she kept conversations light between study sessions. She had used her time to focus on her own little project, where she had basically learned rudimentary Japanese, the entire periodic table, about half of the facts in that one book in the bathroom that just contains a bunch of random facts, and even dedicated an entire house in her mind just for learning Pinterest life and fashion hacks.

Dipper was fast asleep at his desk, his face sticking to the paper that he had been writing on the night before. Mabel glanced at what she could see from his notes, and smiled. He was probably getting sleepy by this page, as it was full of things crossed out, and he was getting the topics all mixed up.

> \- _City Hall front steps = Stan arguing with_ _ **Multi-bear**_ _about the government ~~(was going to use Mabel but nvm)~~_
> 
> \- _Flagpole = reactive paradigm (That one unicorn_ _that Mabel beat up_ _standing on top of Ford's radioactive machine - REMEMBER OR ELSE)_
> 
> \- _Pizza shop on the corner = that one guy with the brain tattoo from the Society of the Blind Eye ~~(~~_ ~~ _note, ask Mabel his name_ _)_~~
> 
> \- _Police station = Smabble \- Talk to her_
> 
> \- _Front of the high school =_ _functionalism_ _: focused on what the mind could do; mental processes or functions that operate on the elements instead of elements themselves ~~(Dreamscape plus brain~~_ ~~ _plus Mabel as the Avatar_ _)_~~
> 
> _*Note to self: Stop using Mabel for all of these, it's easy to get them all confused even though it's easy to relate her to everything._

Mabel couldn't see the rest of the list, as Dipper's snoring face was covering the rest of it. She made a mental note to ask Dipper who Smabble was, and shook Dipper's shoulder and ran out the door as he was waking up. Downstairs, she pondered why Dipper was using her for most of his images. Hopefully he doesn't . . .

She shook her head, cheeks flushed. No, no, that's just plain weird, don't think about it, don't think about it . . .

* * *

Dipper drove Mabel to campus, where she spent the afternoon distracting herself by memorizing more Japanese vocabulary words, and then testing out her new-found language skills by watching an episode of an anime without subtitles. She still didn't have all the words down, so that in particular requires some serious reviewing.

Night had fallen by the time Dipper had gotten out of his last exam. Mabel had managed a rough idea of what Ford had planned for his mind palace, and had started connecting all her individual palaces together to create one world that she could move to and fro. Dipper, on the other hand, was fully confident that he had passed all his exams.

"Mabel, seriously, I love you. The mind palace was a saving grace! I was able to answer questions that looked tough, but were easy thanks to what I memorized. Like you said, multiple choice was basically a pushover, and I swear I used up like all the extra paper writing that essay, and . . ."

He stopped as a yawn kicked in. The tiredness and mental strain finally caught up with him, and he had to sit down next to Mabel on the couch she claimed in the library. Within minutes he had fallen asleep. It hadn't hit him as hard as it had Mabel, seeing as she had memorized all her textbooks in preparation for her exams, but Dipper still burned up a lot of energy nonetheless.

Mabel smiled again, seeing how content Dipper's face was after finally getting some rest. She threw her oversized jacket over the both of them as a makeshift blanket. The campus library was open 24-hours, so she was thankful for that.

"Love you too, Bro," she whispered as she kissed his cheek and snuggled up next to him. Sleep came to her quickly, and Mabel drifted in her mind, the images of her mind palace keeping her company while she slumbered.

All was quiet in the library, save for the sound of light snoring beneath a shooting star jacket and a pine tree hat.


	3. Into The Mind Palace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you couldn't tell by now, I am really hyped for writing this fic, and I don't care who doesn't read it anymore, because it combines my love for the Mind Palace with Gravity Falls and a few other headcanons and ideas that I was thinking about. Chapter 3 and 4 will involve something mysterious, something semi-angsty, something involving Ford.

"Dipper! Dipper Dipper Dipper Dipper Dipper Dipper . . .!" came a loud screech from downstairs. Dipper jerked awake, almost falling out of his bed in surprise. He groaned, stretching and wincing as his body untangled itself from the awkward position he had made as he had been tossing and turning last night. Glancing at his watch, which had left imprints in his wrist after sleeping on it, he groaned once more. It was only 6 in the morning, which he felt was too early to be up on a Sunday.

"Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiipper! Get your butt down here!" came Mabel's voice once more. Scratching his head and yawning, Dipper slowly made his way downstairs. Once he had cleared the final step, he immediately was tackled by something bright pink and yellow, which knocked the both of them onto the stairs. Thank God their stairs were carpeted.

Mabel finished her tackle hug, allowing her brother to breathe, and excitedly jumped up and down in place whilst squealing.

"Mabel, you'll wake the whole street up. What's the big deal?"

Ceasing her jumping, Mabel didn't reply, but opted to shove a piece of paper in his face and stare at him, anticipating his reaction. Dipper read slowly,

* * *

> _Greetings, Dipper and Mabel Pines_
> 
> _After this year's final examinations, we hope that you are doing your best to relax now that the school year is over. After reviewing the scores on all of your exams, we have determined that the two of you both deserve the top spot on the Dean's List, and have thus appointed both of you to this position. Your impressive exam scores across all of your classes this semester raised your GPAs to the highest in the history of this campus, and so you both will be receiving a special award in honor of this achievement. You're both invited to a luncheon this Wednesday so that we can present this award to you personally. Please contact the office if you cannot make it, and we can give you the award at a later date. We await your response._
> 
> _Sincerely,_
> 
> _Margaret Saller_
> 
> _Dean of SU University_

* * *

Dipper looked up from the letter, his excitement mirrored on his twin's face.

"We made the Dean's list!" he whispered.

"I know!" said Mabel.

"We're top two in the whole school!"

"We tied for first place!"

Dipper stood up and hugged Mabel.

"We're getting an award!" he practically shouted. Mabel hugged back and started jumping, unintentionally lifting Dipper off the ground.

"We're AWESOME!" she shouted between jumps. This celebration lasted about a minute or two, before Dipper finally got Mabel to put him down. He read through the letter twice in his head, making sure that this wasn't a dream or that he'd read something wrong. Nope, nothing changed, and the happy pokes in his stomach that Mabel was giving him convinced him that he was awake.

The last time he was this happy was a couple of weeks ago, when both of them had gotten all of their grades back. Dipper, being the overachiever that he was, not only was taking over 30 units and six classes this semester (with a lot of help convincing the school board thanks to Grunkle Ford's influence and his 12 .) but he had gotten full marks on all his classes thanks to Mabel (minus his 93 on the psych final). The downside was having to take most of his finals on the same day, but thanks to Mabel and her help with him learning the Mind Palace, he was able to get through them quite easily. Mabel, being the creative wizard that she was, not only got full marks and all the extra credit on all her exams, but went on to start learning more and more and storing all that information in her ever growing Mind Palace.

"Dipper, we need to celebrate! We need more cotton candy flavored ice cream, we need to call up all our friends, we need drinks, and when I say drinks I mean a combination of lemonade, fruit punch and every soda in existence!"

"Mabel, we just had ice cream last night," started Dipper, but he knew that Mabel would be in party mode for a little while.

"Ooh, we can try out that new arts and crafts project that I learned on Pinterest, I memorized all the instructions. We need apples and lemons, we need ice cream, we need a watermelon, we need pinecones, we need ice cream – did I already say ice cream? WHO CARES I'M SO HAPPY!"

After his ears stopped ringing, Mabel happily danced off to the living room, reciting entire recipes by memory. Dipper called up his parents to tell them the good news. Their mom was really happy, promising to bake something for them the next time they were home so that they could celebrate. His dad, a graduate of Harvard, was extremely proud and told Dipper to send him screenshots of their grades and to photocopy the letter to him, so that he could frame them. Stan and Soos were overjoyed at their achievements, and Dipper promised to have Mabel teach Soos the Mind Palace too so that he could memorize life hacks and maintenance things. Stan passed on the offer, saying that the nerdy stuff was more of his brother's area of expertise.

Dipper called Ford next, and he picked up after about a minute of ringing.

"Hello? Who is this?"

"It's Dipper, Great Uncle Ford. Guess what?"

"You and Mabel are top students and got the highest GPAs in the history of the campus?" said Ford.

"Wait, how did you . . .?"

"I originally had a phone call interceptor installed in that old phone upstairs, but I don't use it anymore except when you or Mabel call. I had it on as background noise just now while I was working on something and only heard that much. So, when's the party?"

"My sister's planning it all in the living room as we speak. She's been so happy since she learned that whole Mind Palace thing from your journal, Great Uncle Ford."

There was the sound of something metal colliding with the floor, and Dipper heard lots of shuffling papers and heavy breathing.

"Um . . . Great Uncle-"

"DIPPER!" shouted Ford, who had apparently taken Dipper off speakerphone and now had his full attention. "Repeat that last part."

"Mind Palace?" Dipper said slowly. _Uh oh,_ he thought, a sinking feeling burning a hole in his stomach.

"Dipper, listen to me very carefully. How much have you delved into that technique?"

"I only used it for my exams, I was able to get full marks and everything, remember? Haven't thought about it much since then."

"Yes, yes, I see. What about Mabel?"

"She memorized the entire textbook for each class, and got better than full marks. She even started learning Japanese and a bunch of other random information."

"Dipper, exactly how much information would you say that she's amassed since she started?"

"I dunno, she had this app and it can teach you anything, she's been at it for a couple of weeks nonstop now."

Ford took a deep breath, and then spoke very carefully so that Dipper wouldn't miss anything.

"Dipper, there's a reason that I decided to write about this technique in my journal. It was originally a technique inspired by the Greeks and made popular by Sherlock Holmes back when it was first being written. It's not just a technique though. It's magic. A magic far more ancient and deadly than I could have imagined from such a harmless premise. The reason that I had written it down was because I tried using it, but eventually had to stop. Not because it wouldn't work for me; rather, it worked too well. I got so obsessed with trying to memorize everything important that eventually the worlds that I created in my mind started to overtake me. I became lost in that world, unable to distinguish between reality and ultrareality. It's like a drug, one that gets more addictive the more times it's used.

"Uh huh . . ." Dipper said. He didn't like where this was headed.

"Sure, I could remember tons of information much more efficiently than what I was already capable of, but the worlds themselves in my mind became a sort of 'safe space' for me to retreat to when I simply couldn't handle reality anymore. I could revisit happier memories in vivid color. I could easily live out fantasies the way I wanted them to, as if I was rewriting history in my mind. If used extensively, and if taken too seriously, then the consequences would be enormous. The magic being used will grow to incomprehensible proportions, and they would be so in control of their mind that they will simply shut down, doomed to live in their 'Mind Palace' for all eternity."

"How do you know all this?"

"Like I said, I almost lost myself in my own Mind Palace, Dipper. I eventually used it thinking that I could protect my mind from Bill in that way. Create mental blocks and barriers to keep him out. But as I found out, it didn't work out the way I had intended, nor did it really stop Bill. My research in that subject led me to discovering past users of this technique who had fallen into eternal sleep, but their brains are functioning at 200% capacity. The mind is a powerful thing, Dipper. You've seen something similar when you told me you had entered Stanley's mind, as well as that 'Mabel Land'. Think of it as that, only this time it's a thousand times worse and near impossible to break free from."

" _Oh no, Mabel!"_

"Dipper?"

Dipper had stopped listening by 'Mabel Land'. He held his phone in his hand and ran in the direction of the living room, in the direction of his sister.

"MABEL!" he shouted. He stopped. Mabel wasn't in the living room. He heard a thrashing sound upstairs. He jumped the steps two at a time and barged into Mabel's room.

His sister was on the ground, thrashing uncontrollably on the fuzzy carpet. Her room, normally littered with art supplies and glitter, was filled wall-to-wall with papers, lists, information to be remembered, things to memorize, subjects, languages, and books. Lots of books. Mabel lay in the center of it all, her eyes wide and glowing a pure white. Dipper's first thought was _Bill?_

But then her eyes closed and she lay immobile, breathing heavily. Dipper panicked as veins bulged on Mabel's head, almost as if her brain was expanding in her skull, trying to break free and release all the information stored inside.

_What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?_

". . .-pper! Dipper, can you hear me?" came Ford's faint voice. Dipper put the phone back to his ear, unable to answer back. Ford sighed.

"Guess we were too late, huh? Okay, listen to me, there was a way out of this, understand?" he asked.

Dipper nodded, and then realizing that Ford couldn't see him, he said,

"Yes."

"Good, now pay attention. I recall that Stanley had copies of my journals, and that he had one set of the copies sent to you guys, correct?"

"Well, he sent them to Mabel, but yeah. I was planning on memorizing them in case I ever needed that information."

"Excellent. Look through Mabel's things until you find the page that you used to enter Stanley's mind all those years ago. Hurry Dipper, there isn't much time!"

Dipper frantically searched through the piles of notes littering Mabel's floor until he found the stack hiding behind a book on the history of pigs. The journal notes and photocopies were thankfully arranged by journal and by page, so finding the page that he needed wasn't that difficult.

"Found them? Good, now listen to me closely. I'll need you to enter your sister's mind, alone, and snap her out of it. This is an entirely different world that you'll be entering, because she isn't technically asleep. This isn't just her memories. This is her world, like Mabel Land, only on an entirely different scale. It's her mind, and the mind works faster than even the greatest supercomputer on the planet. She has total and complete control over this world, so you need to think on your feet. You need to quickly find her and bring her back to reality. Understand?"

"I understand, but how will I do this? It's Mabel after all. This is new territory for me."

"Dipper, trust me, the love I've seen between the two of you, and the way you two think, I know that you'll find the solution. Now then, buckle up. It's gonna be one hell of a trip."

Following Ford's instructions, Dipper prepared the spell from the journal, with some major improvements and improvisations from Ford. Mabel's face was starting to contort with pain, and random strings of numbers and words in various languages occasionally spilled from her mouth. Every once in a while, her eyes would open and shut, revealing that same white glow from earlier. Dipper hurried on, glancing at his sister worriedly. _She didn't know it was magic. She didn't know it was dangerous. We should have been careful. I should have done more research. . ._

No, overthinking things wasn't getting him anywhere. He needed to focus.

Finally, it was ready. Ford wished him luck and hacked into Mabel's computer webcam so that he could monitor their bodies while Dipper was inside Mabel's head.

"Here goes nothing! I'm coming for you, sis!" said Dipper. He quickly kissed Mabel's cheek and said the incantation while clasping Mabel's hand in his own. His body slumped next to Mabel's, and from the webcam Ford could see a small blue light travel from Dipper's forehead, along his arm and up Mabel's, sinking into her forehead and disappearing. Ford looked at his watch.

_7:30AM. I sure hope this works._


	4. The Calm Before The Storm - The Known and the Unknown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper ventures into a new unknown – Mabel's Mind Palace - which is surprisingly familiar to him, but not at all what he expected. (Bit of a longer-ish one, hope you guys don't mind, I intended for this to be the explain-y one. Please read the first three chapters if you haven't already because context reasons). I'll dub this chapter: The Calm Before the Storm.

Dipper was scared of what was to come. He'd already seen what Mabel Land was like, back before their thirteenth birthday. He knew what Mabel's fantasies were like, even if it was just an elaborate trap set by Bill Cipher. He steeled himself for the worst, and looked on ahead. It seemed like he was falling for an eternity in darkness. He couldn't see anything, until a sudden light suddenly flared up all around him. It seemed like electricity at first, and after watching a few of them light up, he realized what they were. They were neurons. Millions upon millions of neurons, interconnected and sending pulses of electricity between each other, creating new connections and breaking connections, rebuilding pathways and transferring information. Essentially, Dipper was falling through a simulation of Mabel's actual brain. That wasn't what worried him. He was worried because the blue-white electricity travelling along Mabel's neurons were starting to get tinged with red. The more red that showed up, the faster the neurons were building connections. Too fast, way too fast for Dipper to keep up.

_The magic buildup's starting to get worse. Mabel's body could end up shutting down, and all that would be left of her would be her brain running at inhuman speeds. I need to find Mabel, and fast._

He followed the arcs of light downwards, where they were all converging at a single point. Interestingly enough, the end of the fall led to a giant door, and not the cute and squishy door that he was expecting. It was large, much larger than any door he'd ever seen in real life, and looked to be made of cold, dark metal. He slowed his fall, floating there in front of the door. His hand paused at the handle. He didn't know whether or not he wanted to see this, but he remembered his mission, and resolved to stay determined.

With one hand, he grabbed the handle, and swung open the surprisingly light door, and hovered through the massive doorway. Without warning, gravity seemed to switch back on, and he stumbled as his feet connected with an unseen floor. Looking around, he saw only blackness in all directions, but when he took a step, another light appeared in the distance. Recognizing the shape to be the pine tree logo from his favorite hat, he broke into a sprint, closing the distance to the light in a sentence. Stepping through this light, Dipper found himself . . .

In his living room?

He stood there, dumbfounded. _Um, this is Mabel's Mind Palace, right?_

Looking around, he found that instead of the couch that was usually against the wall he had emerged from, there was a large pine tree-shaped hole in the wall.

_Yup, definitely Mind Palace territory here._

Looking around, he saw that this was a perfect representation of their living room in their shared apartment. Everything was in its place, and there wasn't anything weird or unusual anywhere else. He stepped gingerly through the room, afraid to even touch anything. It was too quiet in the house; not even his feet made any noise on the carpet. Going up to the picture of the twins, Stan, Wendy, and Soos on the opposite wall, Dipper found that he was at a loss of what to do. Stan's mind, at least, held video projections of his memories and doorways leading to different memory categories. Mabel Land, on the other hand, was a mish-mash of every one of Mabel's fantasies, except supercharged to the extreme and hiding terrible darkness beneath all the glitter. This was . . . too normal. Dipper touched the photograph, and it suddenly started rippling beneath his fingers as if made of water.

"What the?" he exclaimed, and the picture stopped moving at the sound of his voice. Stan's voice echoed from the direction of the wall.

* * *

> " _Keep still, Soos, we're taking a picture, not doing a kung-fu movie."_
> 
> " _Aw c'mon, Grunkle Stan, let him have his moment."_
> 
> " _Mabel, if I let him have his moment, we wouldn't hear the end of it for weeks. Trust me on this."_
> 
> " _As someone who has previously had their moment, dude, I completely agree."_
> 
> " _Dipper, you ready with the camera timer?"_
> 
> " _Um, uh, yeah, Wendy, be right there!"_
> 
> …

* * *

Nostalgia hit him hard like a brick. This was the photo that they took just a few days before the Gideon incident. They had decided to pose in front of the large tree and take a picture, and Dipper remembered stumbling in front of the camera, and had to scramble to look cool in front of the camera. In reality his knees had been shaking. He looked around the room. On closer inspection, there was a faint glow coming from certain objects. The TV, the pictures lining the walls, the shelf, the plant, all of them giving off a different colored glow, some bright and vibrant, others fading. He touched the plant, which was giving off a faded orange color, and this time the scent and taste of Siracha-flavored candy canes filled his senses. He had almost forgotten, those were from the disastrous family Christmas, where Dipper and Mabel had lost five straight games of Pictionary against his parents, and the consequence was eating the box of those. Like parents, like kids, I suppose.

"Looks like the fading colors are fading memories . . . guess that's somewhat similar to Stan's dreamscape, in this sense."

_Hmm, I wonder . . ._

Dipper closed his hand into a fist, and then opened it once more. A golden pendant had appeared on his palm, a pine tree with a cutout of a shooting star in the middle. Mabel had the complimenting one of a large shooting star with a pine tree cutout in the star. Grunkle Stan and Ford's 18th birthday gifts to them, custom-made. Dipper smiled, and slung the necklace over his head. Seems like Dreamscape powers still applied here.

He closed his fist again, and comets and shooting stars appeared, circling his fist like a shield. With the knowledge that he could create what he wanted in this realm, Dipper decided to keep the magic to a minimum, so as not to set off anything bad. While he could create what he wanted, this is Mabel's Mind Palace, where the rogue magic also had the ability to create anything, but since it's harnessing Mabel's brain power, Dipper was the one with the disadvantage here. He's just glad that Bill wasn't here to make things more complicated.

Walking over to the door, Dipper tugged it open, and stepped through, only to find himself in the Mystery Shack, in his old bedroom.

"What the . . .?" he said, whirling around a second too late. The door slammed shut behind him and then disappeared, the sound echoing throughout the attic that had been his home so many summers ago.

"O-kay then, that was weird," he said, walking forward, immediately tripping over something.

"Whoa!" he yelled, waving his arms for balance. He looked at what he had tripped over: it was Stan's red fez, along with what seemed like a map. Picking them both up and turning over the map, he saw that there was very familiar, and very glittery writing on the back.

* * *

> _[Map of the Mind Palaces]_
> 
> _Items there to remember what's where. – Stan's fez (Stan liked to organize things a certain way)_

* * *

Recognizing the writing style that Mabel had taught him about shorthand notes for the Mind Palace, he took a look at the map.

The map was labeled different things: School, Life, Memories, To Keep Forever, To Toss Eventually, Useful Stuff, Phone Numbers, Pi, and Dipper. There was a picture of the room, and the items that were associated with each label on the map. Curious, Dipper went up to the item associated with Pi. Lo and behold, it was a pumpkin pie sitting directly on Mabel's old shelf. He touched the pan, and a portal opened on the wall next to it. From what he could see through the opening, it was a view of Soos's grandmother's kitchen. Various items and people could be seen in different portions of the kitchen, all with a series of numbers on them.

"Impressive, she broke Pi up into seven-digit chunks and placed them all around Soos's house. I wonder . . ."

He spun the pan like a dial. The field of view of the portal went from image to image at breakneck speed, reaching the end, which was somewhere in Soos's bathroom.

"Oh, what, she made it to 4,500 digits already? I can barely do 300 even with the Mind Palace," said Dipper, giving a weak smile. "You're leaving me behind, Alpha twin."

The portal closed when Dipper took his hand off the pie.

"So, it seems like this room is like a central hub; a crossroads where Mabel can access sections of her palaces," said Dipper out loud. "Seems like she's been connecting them together to create one gigantic Mind Palace. Also seems like this is what jump-started this whole thing."

" _ **VERY CLEVER, BOY**!" _ came a rasping voice.

Dipper spun around, finding himself facing his old mirror. His reflection was gone, replaced with an image of Mabel. It warped and shifted until it turned into a horrific monstrosity, glowing with the same red energy that he had seen earlier.

"Listen, I d-don't know who you are, but you get out of my sister's head! She hasn't done anything to you!"

**" _Why would I DO anything? Your sister is the one who created me, who made me and made this my home."_**

"What do you mean, she created you?"

**" _I am what you humans would call a 'white blood cell.' You may call me an Entity. Mabel, as it were, created theses worlds to house a large amount of information, and as such released the hidden energy that creating Mind Palaces contained. Her body is both accepting and rejecting all this dark energy all at once, and as the magic overtook her body, she created me, a sentry made with the sole purpose of keeping her safe space intact."_**

"So, what, are you like some sort of guard?"

**" _Mabel's consciousness is hidden away in a deep recess of this palace. I am made of this magic, and at the same time I keep the magic from completely eroding her body or destroying her brain. I protect, and at the same time, I overtake._ "**

"So you're like a symbiotic being. You can't exist without Mabel's mind, and so you're taking over her brain to both protect her and to ensure that you can continue to exist," said Dipper. Geez, for a magical being, he sure liked to hear himself talk

**" _I suppose that is one way to put it. I can reshape the worlds to Mabel's will, so whatever she desires, I create for her, and that releases more energy, which gives me even more power._ "**

"Whatever, you lost me there, buddy. Anyways, where can I find my sister?"

**" _You must find your way through this Mind Palace, and choose your way carefully in order to find the route to Mabel. These worlds are interconnected, and so there are many paths to take, many choices and many dangers as well as rewards._ "**

Dipper took a breath.

"Why are you helping me? You can reshape the world however you want, why not just blast me out of her mind or keep me in an endless loop? If I bring her out of her Mind Palace, you cease to exist, don't you?"

**" _Foolish child, don't you realize that the Mind Palace's primary function is improving memory? I will continue to exist so long as Mabel's Mind Palace exists, and as long as Mabel doesn't forget, I will continue to be. But her sudden overuse of the technique released too much energy at once, so much so that it has reaching critical levels in Mabel's body. Any change that will heavily impact the world will completely shatter the palace, breaking Mabel's mind in two and completely erasing Mabel's existence as well as my own."_**

Dipper gulped, not knowing exactly what to do.

"So, um, where should I start, then?"

**" _Follow the map to the last room, and then you will be on your own. Do not fear, however. You, too, possess the same powers that your sister has released. You are different. You did not fall into the temptations of limitless knowledge; you did not continually release energy all at once, like the rest of them, and you escaped the magical coma that befell them. Your sister is dangerously close to meeting this fate as well._ "**

"I understand. But if I save Mabel, will you still be there? In her mind?"

**" _I will continue to exist, and in exchange for Mabel not overusing the technique, she will be able to harness the mental energy of the Mind Palace to its fullest potential. Powers and mental abilities accessible outside of the Mind Palace, and an expanded mental capacity that, if used PROPERLY, will secure you both a wealth of wisdom and knowledge._ "**

"Whoa, whoa, back up. Both? As in I can have powers too?"

**" _You, who haven't abused the technique, have released the same energy in smaller amounts. I sense that your body naturally absorbed these small quantities, and thus allowed you to keep from breaking down the way Mabel is. With a little guidance, you too can master these powers."_**

"Can you show me? _"_

**"** _ **I cannot. This is something you both need to discover on your own. I must go, I need to focus all my energy on stopping the outbreak. Go through the first gate, and you will find your way from there. And here . . ."** _ Entity reached out and tapped Dipper's pine tree necklace. It glowed with a pale greenish glow, similar to how Gideon's magic bolo tie had glowed when he still had those powers.

"Wha?"

**" _Your latent powers are now activated. Do not make any major changes to the world, as it may quicken the pace of the destruction. I'll keep an eye on you. Don't mess this up._ "**

The distorted figure morphed back into the shape of Mabel, which smiled sweetly before disappearing. Not knowing whether to feel more or less nervous, Dipper looked down at his necklace. The green glow had faded, and the gold pendant glinted in the glow of the light bulb. Best to test out these so-called "latent powers" later, assuming that they really could be used in reality like Entity said. Taking out the map once more, Dipper found that there was a dotted line connecting the different rooms together. "Memories" was apparently the room he was just in, and it seemed like the central hub room he was currently in was the "Life" room, since all of Mabel's palaces revolved around this room. After analyzing the map carefully, he decided to try the "Dipper" path, since this was the most likely place she'd be in. Following the shorthand notes in the margins, Dipper found a blue key underneath the pillow on his old bed, and slotted it into the tiny keyhole at the corner of the mirror Entity had been in.

_Man, Mabel, why make the doorway to your Mind Palace for me so complicated?_

No response from Mabel, other than the mirror glass fading out of existence. Dipper stepped through the empty mirror frame. Just as he stepped through the frame, another thought crossed his mind.

_Wait, why does Mabel have a Mind Palace dedicated to **me**?!_

There was another flash of light, immediately replaced with complete darkness.


	5. Deeper and Weirder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New chapter, new mysteries. Exploring deeper into the world that is Mabel's Mind Palace. Flashbacks, creativity, memories, trust, broken-ness, little bit of a special something or another mixed in for good measure. Also, what sort of magical mysteries can we unlock? (p.s. I have a new name for Bill now btw, which I used in this chapter)

_Seriously, Mabel? Would it kill you to imagine some lights in here?_

Almost as if on command, his surroundings lit up, revealing a long hallway with doors lining either side. His eyes squeezed almost shut at the sudden change in light, Dipper looked around wildly, but the area remained silent, save for the sounds of his own ragged breathing.

_Dammit, I forgot, I can change things in here too. Well, I'm pretty sure lights won't trigger anything too bad . . ._

Having just entered the mirror housing the doorway to Mabel's "Dipper" section of her Mind Palace, the boy in question approached the nearest door to him. Beneath a large number 7, the golden nameplate read "Melissa Davies."

_Ugh, I am so not looking forward to this._

Turning the handle, Dipper pushed the door open and poked his head inside. It was a recreation of one of their homeroom classrooms from high school. All around the room, different objects were glowing with a very vivid array of colors. Obviously, Mabel still tries to keep her high school memories fresh in her mind. Dipper, on the other hand, would rather forget all the terrible memories of high school.

Looking around the room, the first thing that caught his eye was a large chemistry book. Mabel had shared that class with him during their freshman year. Opening it to the first page, a sort of holographic orb appeared above the book, allowing the flashback to play in picture-perfect quality, from Mabel's eyes:

> " _Be sure to finish the readings for next week's quiz! Don't waste your time just because it's a three-day weekend."_
> 
> _The sounds of rustling papers and backpacks zipping grew in volume, and the chatter of the happy students almost drowned out the final bell. The view shifted to the right, focusing on a boy in red and brown flannel and a baseball cap, furiously copying the last set of notes down while trying to see over the sea of heads partially blocking the board._
> 
> " _Dipper, c'mon, we're gonna be the last ones here again. I don't wanna be all awkward while the teacher waits for us to finish."_
> 
> " _Mabel, I need these notes for the test. At least one of us needs to be a good student."_
> 
> " _Well ex-cuuuuuuuuse me, mister, but I already took notes, I'm not the one who was doodling some girl's name in the margins."_
> 
> " _I wasn't . . ."_
> 
> " _Don't lie to the Alpha Twin."_
> 
> _Dipper struggled to cover up his paper, but it was snatched out from under his arm and held at eye level._
> 
> " _Uh huh, just as I suspected. 'Melissa Joan Davies', right there in the ol' blue ink. Seriously, Dipper, we need to work on your whole 'talking-to-girls' act. Also, maybe tone it down with the creepy notes and drawings."_
> 
> " _I . . . I do talk to girls, I mean, I talk to you, I just . . ."_
> 
> " _Whatever, I'll help you when we get home, 'kay 'kay?"_

Dipper stepped out and shut the door, cutting off the sound. Yup, Mabel's definitely been improving her memory. Looking around, he saw other various names from his crushes throughout the years. Knowing his sister, he could tell that those memories are more or less the same as the one he just revisited. The door across from the one he just opened had a familiar name on it: " _Smabble."_

_Dammit, Mabel sneaked a peek at my notes, didn't she? Ugh, if we both get out of this alive, she is gonna start lecturing me again . . ._

Taking out the map, Dipper shook off thoughts about Smabble for now, and tried to make sense of the confusing chart. It didn't help that Mabel decided to put her own versions of certain encryptions into the map, making it impossible for Dipper to find the correct path quickly.

_Ugh, this is stupid, Mabel. What's the point of encrypting your memories if you're just gonna get trapped in them?_

Without warning, the entire hallway started shaking. From behind him, at the back end of the hall, a pulsing red glow started filling the space, flooding the hallway and racing towards a panicking Dipper.

"Oh, crud. _Oh crud crud crud crud CRUD!_ " he yelled, bolting down the hallway as fast as he could. The doors became a blur, with Dipper frantically searching for a way out on the map.

" _C'mon, give me a way out, give me a – OOF!_ "

Dipper tripped, the map falling out of his hands and falling into the red flood of electricity behind him. Dipper quickly stood up and rushed up to a random door, fingers fumbling with the knob.

"Get me the _FUCK_ out of here!" he yelled, flinging the door open and running inside, slamming the door shut behind him. Leaning against the door and breathing heavily. A few seconds later, the door began to shake and burn red hot. Dipper yelped, jumping away from the doorway and spun around just in time to see the door become consumed with red energy before fizzling out of existence. In its place was a large black burn mark in the wall where the door used to be. No going back, then.

"Oh crap, that can't be good."

Without warning, a booming voice rang out in his head:

' _ **NOT GOOD' DOESN'T EVEN BEGIN TO DESCRIBE THE SITUATION WE'RE IN. DIPPER PINES, TIME IS RUNNING OUT! THERE IS ONLY SO MUCH THAT I CAN DO TO HOLD BACK THE OUTBREAK. DO NOT LET MABEL BECOME A VICTIM OF THE MAGIC. DO NOT MESS THIS UP!**_

Entity's voice continued to echo throughout his skull. Seems like Mabel's Mind Palace was slowly but surely falling victim to the magic deterioration. The red energy just destroyed the doorway connecting the palace he was just in with the palace he had just escaped to. Speaking of which . . .

Taking a breath and focusing on where he actually was, he had to take a step back in shock. He was staring face-to-face with none other than Xyler and Craz, Mabel's dream characters from that _Dream Boy High_ movie that Mabel used to watch. The strangest part was that the two of them were sitting at a kid-sized table, wearing matching bonnets and were posed as if they were dolls, unmoving and unblinking.

_Life-sized wax sculptures of the two of them; guess that brings back other memories, I suppose,_ thought Dipper.

The various objects from the tea set glowed a different color, each representing a portal to another part of Mabel's Mind Palace, though the lights were starting to fade slowly.

There was a set of instructions taped to Craz's forehead, although Mabel had decided to write these ones in Japanese, so they were of no use to him. The only thing he could read was the word "Puzzle" written in English on the top of the page.

"Guess I gotta do this the hard way. Maybe. . ."

Dipper decided to try some Dreamscape-magic. Maybe he could form a portal and jump through it quickly before he did any real damage to Mabel's mind.

. . .

_Bad idea._

No sooner had Dipper formed a tiny portal on his hand that the room began to shake, causing the room to glow red like the last area. Dipper hurriedly closed his hand into a fist, closing the small portal and returning the room to its original state.

"O-kaay, so that's a bust. Guess I'm stuck here?"

Almost as if by habit, his hand drifted to his neck, fingers rubbing the cheap gold plating of his pine tree necklace. Immediately, it started glowing pale green, just as it had when Entity had "activated" it.

_Wait a second . . ._

What was it that Entity had said? Something about activating _latent powers_? Hadn't he said that Dipper could use the same magic that Mabel had?

Dipper closed his hand around the pendant, giving it a squeeze. Taking his hand away from the necklace, he found that his hand was surrounded by a glowing green flame. Reaching out his hand to the table, he mentally willed the solution to the puzzle to appear. The teacup with the blue aura wiggled slightly. Dipper concentrated harder. The cup wiggled some more and then it rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise, allowing the handle to point to Xyler. The portal appeared in a large bubble above the cup, a bright transparent sphere showing scenes in Mabel's perspective from their time facing McGuckett's machine monster.

"Interesting," said Dipper, allowing the green flames to dissipate from his hand. "So this, at least, is similar to Gideon's stupid bolo tie."

The magic was of the same nature as the magic released in Mabel's Mind Palace, so he figured that using this kind of magic wouldn't trigger anything big in the system. So this is what Entity meant when he said that Dipper had these powers too.

Using the magic to guide his actions, he reached out for the table again. Rotating the teacup like a dial with his mind, he scrolled forwards and backwards through the list of objects in the memory. The various cameras, the monster bait, the beavers and the chainsaws, and even McGuckett himself. Finally, he found what he was looking for. When McGuckett had been freaking out at the lake about the Gobblewonker, there was a split second where the twins had seen Blendin Blandin in the background. Now they knew that the time traveler had been trying to clean up the twins' mess throughout time, but it was interesting to see this scene through Mabel's eyes. The frame of time was only for a few seconds, as Mabel had turned to look at Dipper in that moment, so Dipper had to rewind frame by frame. Doing so using magic took a lot of concentration, and he prayed that all this magic consumption wouldn't trigger the deterioration of the palace further.

Allowing his hand to glow green once more, he reached through the bubble, snagging the calculator and pulling his hand out just in time for the bubble to pop, dissolving into a shower of sparkles.

_Once more I'd like to mentally ask: Mabel, why the heck are you making these encryptions so damn difficult?_

Looking over the calculator, memories from that summer flooded back to him. Making a mental note to file those away in his own palace (safely, he might add, given the state Mabel's palace was in right now), Dipper flipped the calculator over to find a blue pine tree sticker taped to the back of it.

_Not exactly subtle there, sis._

The sticker had only two words on it, written in simple sharpie:

> **Password: Dipper**

"Alright, I take back my words about you being complicated, Mabel," said Dipper, smiling. He turned the calculator back around to the front, and saw that the little machine had changed from a simple calculator to the latest scientific calculator, complete with an option to type on the screen. Dipper toggled the option button and typed out:

_D. I. P. P. E. R._

Without warning, the calculator started vibrating intensely beneath his fingers. It dropped from his hand, where it started skittering across the floor. It climbed the wall on its own before coming to a stop in the middle of the wall. The screen glowed red, and the work _PIN_ flashed on and off. Instinctively knowing what to do, Dipper approached the newly-placed keypad.

"Don't even need magic for this one, sis," he said, tapping the numbers by memory.

_0\. 8. 3. 1._

August 31st. The twins' shared birthday. Dipper smiled again as the wall melted away, revealing a view of the Mystery Shack from the outside. Taking a step through the opening, Dipper took a deep breath. Pine needles, smog, and the occasional scent of gnomes filled his nose. Exactly as he remembered.

Well, technically, exactly as Mabel remembered, but anyways . . .

Taking another step forward, Dipper turned and watched as the doorway slowly faded behind him. Good thing he solved the encryption Mabel put, as the room was beginning to get tinged with red lightning along the walls.

Looking back toward the shack, he saw that Mabel had made a few changes here and there. There were various memory-items scattered throughout the lawn, arranged in a pattern that only Mabel knew. They started at his feet, snaking to and fro across the lawn and coming to a stop at the porch. The front door now held a wooden sign that read "Dipper Mind Palace." Stapled to the bottom of the sign was a scrap of notebook paper that said " _[Do not enter, unless it's an emergency]."_

"Figures you'd use the Mystery Shack as your safe space too, Mabel," Dipper said, allowing his hand to rest on the doorknob. "I guess we both had the same idea going into this, huh?"

* * *

But Dipper didn't open the door. He had thought about everything he was going to say, how he was going to save her, and even considered leaving a trail behind in case he got lost. But looking at the door, his name spelled out in purple and blue glitter, all his thoughts went out the window. _How am I supposed to get Mabel out of here? The world is collapsing, I now have these weird powers that I could supposedly use both in this world and in the real world, and there wasn't even any guarantee that Mabel would even want to leave. Mabel Land was one thing, where Mabel could escape from reality and control the world to her will, but this was literally inside Mabel's mind. Rather than being a trap designed by Bill, this was something entirely different. Brains can operate at really –_

" _ **Oh give it a rest, will ya? You're giving me a headache, and I'm in YOUR head, ya dingus!"**_

Dipper jumped, taking a few steps back before losing balance.

"W-Whoa!"

" _ **Whoa there, buddy, don't fall on your butt now!"**_

Dipper's body glowed green, and he stopped mid-fall, his head an inch off the ground. Before he could say anything, his body righted himself, his feet planting themselves on the grass in front of the shack. The green glow transferred to his shadow, which lifted off the ground and floated above his head, morphing into a blackened version of a familiar shape, and spouted a very, VERY familiar voice.

"Wha . . . wha . . .?" stammered Dipper, too astonished to formulate words.

" _ **What's wrong, never seen an Entity before? Oh wait, you have! Ha-ha, stop staring, Pine Tree, it's rude!"**_

Dipper took several steps back, arms held up for protection.

"W-Why do you sound like Bill? Who are you and why are you here?"

" _ **I sound like Bill because that's the first thing that comes to mind when you see something evil-looking like me, obviously. Same for how I look, too, so sorry about that. I'm a part of your mind, so it makes sense that your thoughts influence my appearance. Try it, think of something else except the 'maniacal triangle'."**_

Taking a few steadying breaths, Dipper stood there, unsure of what to do.

_Someone . . ._

And then his mind drifted to Mabel. His shadow immediately morphed into Mabel's shape, although it didn't distort the same way that the previous Entity did. The same clothes that she had been wearing in the real world (though these clothes were a black color), the same face with her round cheeks and brace-less smile, and even the same voice. The Entity-Mabel twirled around, giving her new body a look.

" _ **Ahh, much better. Feels good to have arms and legs that aren't sticks. Could use a bit more variety, but I think I look good in black."**_

"Um, so . . ." started Dipper, blushing, before the Entity-Mabel took a peek inside Mabel's shirt.

" _ **Whoa-ho there, kiddo, why did you imagine me with bigger-**_ "

"Don't . . . please don't," said Dipper, blushing harder.

" _ **What? It's your weird imagination, I'm just the form. Though, given what I've seen when I looked through your memories, it's kind of hard not to imagine anything like that while you're living with your sister in college. Try not to do anything weird once you two return to your normal lives, cuz I don't know if that's something I want to sit through. Well, I guess I could change this form myself, but I'd prefer to focus on the magic anyways.**_ "

Dipper cleared his throat.

"Um, anyways . . ."

" _ **No need, I am part of your Mind Palace, remember? Yes, you can do it; no, you're not going to mess this up. And yes, you are, in fact, overthinking everything.**_ "

"Well, what should I do then? Magic can only get me so far, but Mabel's pretty much locked everything so tight that it's a wonder that I got here in the first place. That, and the whole palace is collapsing," said Dipper, gesturing out to the far horizon. The furthest point of the sky from them was starting to glow red. Time was running out.

" _ **What should you do? C'mon man, you're her brother! BRO-THER! As in, you spent nearly every second of your childhood together? Hell-oooo, Earth to Dipper, you've got a Mind Palace too! You didn't overuse your power the same way Mabel did, AND you two think alike, despite you guys bein' complete opposites. In more ways than one,**_ " the Entity-Mabel added, glancing down at her current form. Dipper tried not to think about the implications of that statement, but the image still came to mind. He shuddered and made a mental note to scrub his mind.

" _ **Ha-ha, good luck trying to scrub your mind of THAT image, buddy. Remember what Mabel taught you about memory: the best images to stick in your mind are images about sex, images involving jokes, and jokes about sex,**_ " laughed Entity-Mabel, having read his mental note almost immediately after he thought it.

"W-Whatever. Anyways, give me the quick answer: Why do you Entities exist, how do these powers work, and how do I save my sister?"

" _ **Simple. One, we're the protectors of the Mind Palaces, so we exist to help you, whether it's finding something in your palace or creating images with magic so that you're not using mental power. Two, think mentalism and telekinesis, kind of like the Force, but on a much easier learning curve. Three, and this is the easiest: go through door, save your sister. Easy!**_ "

"Well, I did say short, didn't I? Alright, so I'll trust you for now, but I'm not 100% on board with this 'having magical powers' deal-io, so . . ."

" _ **Who was the one that said that time was running out?**_ "

"Point taken, let's go."

Seemingly satisfied, the Entity-Mabel disappeared into Dipper's pendant in a flash of green light. Dipper turned back to the door. _Okay, enough time wasted, let's go._

" _ **Let's go, pervert.**_ _"_

"Shut up."

Dipper grabbed the door handle, took a deep breath, and opened the door, stepping over the threshold.


	6. The Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, some Mabel time after so long. I've missed writing her character, it's nice to switch things up here. Hope you guys enjoy it, this'll be something that I'll put more work into compared to the previous chapters. Cheers!

"Aaaaand . . . perfect! Okay, let's see, what's next . . ."

Mabel stood in the center of the room, which was filled to the brim with items, memorabilia, images and even projectors playing memory movie sequences onto various walls and screens. The room resembled a sort of vault, with walls of memory items stacked miles high, to the point where the four walls couldn't even be seen, and the ceiling expanded upwards infinitely, dissolving from view into a blur of white and gray.

"Let's put you . . . here!" she exclaimed, holding up a sweater that had a pig wearing Air Jordan's and glasses in the shape of the number 2008. Her hands glowed with red light, and the sweater magically floated up and hung itself on a corner of a dresser perched about 20 feet up. Sitting on that dresser was a mess of items with a similar color scheme, ranging from different books to various pictures and other clothes.

"Nice, now then, how about . . ." she said, looking down at the piles of unsorted items laying at her feet. She was grateful for having learned the Mind Palace, as this made sorting her thoughts much easier. She picked up a snow globe which, instead of snow and winter, held a CGI scene from a familiar movie, complete with yellow pill creatures and blue overalls. Instead of snow, the glitter was in the shape of bananas, and the little Minions raced around, trying to catch as many as they could. Giving the snow globe a little shake, it glowed with a brilliant yellow light, and Mabel could imagine the memory associated with this item:

* * *

> " _C'mon, open your gift!"_
> 
> " _Is it a unicorn? I always wanted a unicorn!"_
> 
> " _Mabel, stop shaking it, you're gonna break something!"_
> 
> " _Psshh, haha, like I'd ever hurt a unicorn!"_

* * *

Mabel giggled. _Oh, how times have changed,_ she thought, remembering the time she and her friends faced off against a set of unicorns.

* * *

> " _*gasp* OHMYGOD Dipper, you didn't!"_
> 
> " _Uhh-huh, I did exactly that."_
> 
> " _Thankyou thankyou thankyouuuuuu! How did you know I wanted this? These aren't even sold in stores yet, they were only the prototype models that someone posted up, and it's not supposed to be available in America for another three months!"_
> 
> " _I have my connections. By 'I', I mean Grunkle Ford, and by 'connections', I mean a prototype time machine that only opens a portal three months into the future and back. And yes, we did pay for this in the future, so it's real, and it's not stolen."_
> 
> " _BANANAS!" was the response Mabel had given, running around the room with the snow globe held high._
> 
> " _Heh heh, glad you like it, sis."_

* * *

The memory stopped playing there. Mabel smiled, and placed it on a stack of newspapers that she had put next to another pile that had a neon sign reading "Family Holidays."

"Lucky Mom's not here, otherwise she'd kill me if she saw the mess I've made. Then again, I need this mess to be exactly how I want it, otherwise I can't find anything."

No matter how many items she placed around the room, whether by magic or by walking around the piles, the list of things to sort seemed to grow bigger. Mabel didn't mind, as the room seemed to expand exactly to fit what she wanted to remember. This vault was one of many that she used to store family memories, important birthdays, dates and other small memories that came to mind. She visited her "Dipper Mind Palace" so often that she decided to make this her go-to palace for connecting a lot of her other memories. This cabinet led to a hub room that connected her to different smaller palaces reserved for other relatives. That door led to fantasy realms from various books and movies that now housed items for various quotes and motivational words to keep her thinking positive when times were getting tough. She had a room that she planned on mentally refurnishing to accommodate a dictionary that she planned on memorizing in the future, and even a set of palaces where she could memorize movie plots and essentially re-watch movies in her head. And the best part? She remembered every detail she memorized now, in perfect detail, down to the exact time and place of the memory. Mabel didn't know if it was due to the magic, or due to the Mind Palace being such an awesome technique.

* * *

Mabel knew about the magic; she had known since she had done her research on the subject. She spent so much time in her own thoughts now that she was able to practice and perfect using this magic pretty easily. Mabel Land was one thing, but that was mostly just claps and her commanding stuff, but in here, all she had to do was think it and it appeared, changed, or sorted itself. She used magic initially as a relief on her brain, as using the Mind Palace on your own mental power took up a lot of her energy. Just studying for class exams for one night made her so tired that it took a massive amount of sugar just to get her to function normally again. With magic speeding the process along, Mabel was able to form hundreds of palaces based off of real-world and movie/TV places, and store a ton of information at once, with relative ease and speed.

Granted, she was very shocked when her Entity first came into being. She was scared, but quickly became accustomed to having this new friend around. Entity warned her about the dangers of using too much magic at once, and so it kept Mabel in check while she was doing her memorizing. Eventually, though, Mabel's constant use of the technique coupled with how quickly Mabel was learning to control the magic came to overpower the Entity's control, and so she hadn't seen her Entity for a little while now. Or at least, it seemed like hours because time worked a little weirdly in the Mind Palace. Was it a few hours? Or a few minutes? Who cares, he'll come back eventually to admire her handiwork.

* * *

Mabel took a step back, and looked at how far she'd accomplished. She managed to put a sizeable dent in the pile at her feet, and decided that it was time for her to take a break. Reaching up to her neck, she pulled her pendant out from its place under her sweater. The shooting star pendant with a pine tree cutout, the one that Grunkles Stan and Ford had given her, alongside the one Dipper got, the pine tree with the shooting star cutout. _Shooting Star_ and _Pine Tree_ , their nicknames which they had become attached to after their little adventures in good ol' Gravity Falls.

"Entity, you there?" Mabel asked, rubbing the pendant with her thumb. It glowed green briefly, and then red. No response.

"Hey, anyone home?"

Nothing.

"Hmmm . . . I'm pretty sure I put a screen around here somewhere . . ."

Mabel searched the nearby area. Somewhere, she had put . . . _aha, here we are._

Pulling a black iPad out of a pile of socks, she powered it on. She kept this as a sort of shortcut, allowing her access to her different mind palaces quickly without leaving the palace that she was currently working on. She got this "camera" system from her time playing _Five Night's at Freddy's_ with her brother one Halloween. She also had hidden little shortcuts and extra portals here and there, outside of the main path that she created to make it easier for her to navigate the massive expanse of her mind. She got this idea from her time playing Super Mario Maker, having little shortcuts and cheats to make it easier to solve the difficult levels. Despite her brother's hobbies, she was a pretty decent gamer too. She typed in the passcode and the screen lit up to the last palace she had looked at, which was the Smabble room she was constructing.

Or at least, that's what she was supposed to be looking at, except now she was looking at a screen of static.

"Huh, that's weird, why . . . why's the connection being all fuzzy . . .?"

Opening an app labeled "Status", she scrolled through until she found the "Girls that Dipper Likes" folder. Yup, all of the lights were green. Nothing's changed. Nothing seems out of place. Going back, the screen to view the palace was still full of static.

"Can I not . . .?" she started, reaching a hand out to open a portal through the screen. The device immediately shocked her hand, and she dropped the iPad onto the ground.

"O-kay, so the red lightning's new . . ." she muttered, rubbing her injured hand. That was strange too: this was her mind, so she shouldn't be getting hurt, but that . . . actually hurt.

Careful not to make another portal, Mabel picked up the iPad gingerly, flipping over to another palace camera.

_Static . . . dead . . . no connection . . . flashes of black and white with some red mixed in . . . what the heck's going on? My palaces are still there, but I can't access any of them . . ._

The iPad beeped, indicating a voice message. Entity usually left her messages whenever he was busy building other palaces for her. She clicked the _Play_ button.

" _ **MABEL! If you're listening to this, then the worst-case scenario is happening. I warned you not to release too much magic, because the magic is starting to overtake the palaces. It will sever the connections between the main palaces, and then go on a rampage, continuously creating and destroying, releasing more and more energy while you become trapped within the walls of your mind."**_

"Wait, what?" she exclaimed, gripping the device harder. The voice continued.

" _ **Your brother is here in the palace, looking for you as we speak. Find a way to contact him, he'll . . ."**_

The message suddenly cut short, to be replaced by crackling static.

_Dipper, what the heck are you doing in my mind? And also, what the heck is going on?_

Mabel's thought was interrupted by a sudden rumbling noise. The entire vault shook, and the piles of memory item's wobbled threateningly.

"Not good. Definitely not good!"

Mabel scrambled to the nearest shortcut, a little door she placed on a familiar vending machine. Except the door was gone, only a black burn mark remaining in its place. The next one too, burned away on its own. Slipping and stumbling over piles of junk, knocking memory items in every direction, Mabel tried to reach all of her doors, portals and shortcuts out of the vault, but it was no use. No matter how close she got to any of them, they would burn away before she could reach them. Desperate for a way out, her options disappearing one by one, Mabel frantically tried to think of a solution.

_There's one portal left: my cell phone from two years ago. C'mon, where is it, where . . . AHA, found it!_

She picked up the old pink phone, quickly switching it on.

"Find Dipper," she gave the voice command. The phone flashed static for a second before settling on a live video feed of her twin. He was about to enter the "Dipper Mind Palace."

_Wait, what the heck is that?!_

A black version of herself had appeared before her brother, glowing with green energy. Kind of like her own Entity, except this one seemed . . . different? She couldn't hear what they were talking about, but this new Entity was examining her form and _whoa whoa hold the phone, don't try to tempt MY brother you . . . you NOT-ME-ENTITY-THING!_

Mabel attempted to open the portal in her phone, only to receive another electric shock for her trouble. She watched helplessly as her last lifeline out of the vault fizzled from existence. Dropping to her knees, Mabel could only watch in terror as the walls of memories caved in all around her, the sound of falling items drowned out by a rush of red energy as the dark magic broke its way into the vault, filling the space and swallowing everything in sight.

* * *

Dipper stepped through the door, only to find himself ankle deep in a pool of red liquid. Recoiling, he slowly examined the flooded space and concluded that it was not blood.

_Could be worse, it could be much worse . . ._ he thought to himself as he ventured deeper into the shack. Looking down at his pendant, he thought,

_What are the odds that we can use magic, and we have these, um . . . things helping us?_

" _ **Ahem, but this 'thing' can hear your thoughts at the moment, genius."**_

"Sorry about that, I just . . ."

" _ **We'll deal with this later. For now, where the heck do you think you're going?"**_

"I'm going upstairs. Most logical place for Mabel to hide out is in the attic, so I'm sure she'd be there."

" _ **Yeah, but you were just in the attic, weren't you? At the start? Wouldn't she be somewhere more secure, seeing as this is her safe space?"**_

"True, but that's probably flooded, given the state the floor's in," he said, standing a few stairs up and shaking some red fluid from his sneakers.

" _ **Think about it, you entered into the 'Dipper Mind Palace' from that mirror, and you ended up here at the Mystery Shack again, so going back up there would bring you back to square one. There's no need for you to start over, we're short on time!"**_

"You're right, I guess, I just thought . . ." he said, before stopping mid-sentence. Realization hit him like a cold shower. He had to act fast, or else . . .

He reached up slowly towards his necklace, but as soon as his hand brushed against it, it zapped him.

"Ouch!"

" _ **Don't try any funny business, bub! I know what you're thinking!"**_

Dipper stood his ground, and reached up again for the pendant. It started zapping his hands with more intensity, but Dipper gritted his teeth and persevered.

"If you know . . . what I'm thinking," he said, straining against the onslaught of lightning coming from the necklace. "Then you know . . . why I'm doing . . . THIS!"

Dipper's hand closed around the gold pine tree, pulling down and breaking the chain. The pendant spun from his hand, firing bolts in all directions. Dipper ducked behind the banister, shielding himself from a couple of the bolts. The Mabel-Entity appeared from the necklace, glowing a furious red, the same color as the dark magic building up in Mabel.

" _ **How long have you known?"**_ it asked, eyes glowing pure white. Dipper straightened up.

"It came to me just now. Why would the Mind Palace dedicated to me be separate from the others like 'Life' or 'Memories'? The answer is because I'm important to Mabel, because we get through the toughest of times together, because we need each other. As such, since we grew up together, we have made so many memories together that it'd be difficult for her not to include me in making those connections. I entered Mabel's mind, started in our apartment which led straight into our attic room in the shack. The attic room wasn't the hub that connected all the palaces together. The Mystery Shack itself was the hub room! The building was her Mind Palace for me the WHOLE TIME. The mirror wasn't the entrance; it was the EXIT! You guys have been leading me AWAY from Mabel this whole time!"

. . .

No response; Mabel-Entity just floated there, staring at him with a blank expression, almost calmly.

Dipper looked confused, not sure of what just happened.

"Um, what – _WAHHHHHH!_ "

Without warning, the creature grabbed Dipper's leg, dragging him from the staircase and towards the hidden door to the basement.

"Let go! Where are you taking me?!"

" _ **Somewhere where you won't ever be able to get out of: the bottomless pit! Mabel stored that scene down in the basement in case she needed to throw useless memories away. Whatever memory gets thrown in there gets lost forever!"**_

"Crap, this can't be happening, this can't be happening . . .!"

Dipper grabbed at anything that he could, trying to anchor himself and keep from being dragged away. Vases, lamps, pictures on the wall, all tumbled to the ground in his struggle. The stuff he knocked over or grabbed started resonating, simultaneously playing their stored memories all at once.

* * *

> " _. . . And this is the time that-"_
> 
> " _-ever happens, we get through . . ."_
> 
> " _. . . bedazzled my face!"_
> 
> " _I was awoken by the sound of -"_
> 
> " _This is a baby wipe."_
> 
> " _Dipper would!"_
> 
> " _It all starts with this little . . ."_
> 
> " _. . . sweater town . . ."_
> 
> " _Your brother . . ."_
> 
> " _I'm legalizing everything!"_
> 
> " _Trust no one . . ."_
> 
> " _. . . but you can't touch . . ."_
> 
> " _Not as scary as Dipper's internet . . ."_

* * *

Scattered memories all played at once, voices overlapping and volume steadily rising.

" _ **Augh! Too much! MAKE IT STOP!"**_

Mabel-Entity dropped Dipper's leg, covering both ears in an attempt to stifle the sound. Dipper's face lit up. There are too many memories playing at once. This is a creature created for storing memories. All of these memories playing at once was throwing it for a loop, so if he overwhelmed them with a lot more emotional memories at once . . . maybe . . .

He looked around, and then ran over to the nearest closet door. Making his hand glow green, he concentrated on the door, willing his thoughts to come into existence. Mabel-Entity spun around, searching for its prey. It distorted itself until it was a horrifying, twisted version of his sister. Shutting his eyes, Dipper cried out,

"I hope this works!"

He flung the door wide open, allowing what was inside to come tumbling out. A sea of journals flooded out of the closet, opening to various pages. From each book came different memories, all of them glowing a brilliant blue, and filled the room with Dipper's voice:

* * *

> " _Mabel!"_
> 
> " _Mabel . . . what -"_
> 
> " _Mabel"_
> 
> " _Mabel, are you . . . ?"_
> 
> " _Maaaaabel!"_
> 
> " _Cut it out, Mabel!"_
> 
> " _Mabel?"_
> 
> " _Hey, Mabel . . ."_
> 
> " _Mabel!"_

* * *

" _ **What is this? What have you done? AHHH, stop it, I can't think!"**_ cried out the monster, cringing in pain as the light from the memories filled the room, overtaking the red energy.

"I connected my Mind Palace with Mabel's. Did you think Mabel was the only one with a safe space? You said it yourself: Mabel and I think alike. We both decided on the Shack for our safe spots, and it's in MY Mabel's Mind Palace where I stored every single memory that we've made together. You think you can keep us apart? You think you can beat us? You think you're stronger than the bond that Mabel and I share? Well guess what, buddy? _GET DUNKED ON!_ "

The blue light from the memories that Dipper had of Mabel, both happy and sad memories, flooded the room. Dipper held out a hand, and the books all spun to face the dark Entity, focusing their combined energies on the screaming, blackened figure.

" _ **NO! You can't do this to me! Ahhh, you can't! No! I won't lose, I won't looooooooooooose!"**_

The dark figure of the Mabel-Entity vanished into the blue light. Not even a hint of the terrible creature remained, save for the last echoes of the terrible screaming. Dipper's journal-memories faded was well, leaving behind a blue aura. Without missing a beat, Dipper raced up the stairs, reaching the room that the two of them had shared all those years ago. He saw the mirror frame that he had entered, which had ended up leading him down the wrong path. He shook his head and reminded himself that while his own Entity was vanquished, Mabel's Entity remained, and it could potentially be growing stronger off the red energy being released throughout Mabel's mind.

Dipper activated his power again, and was surprised to find that instead of the pale green color from before, the aura around his hand glowed a brilliant blue.

_Surprisingly, I'm only releasing a tiny amount of power, and yet it's still this strong? Guess that Entity was trying to suppress my powers instead of helping them . . . Shouldn't have trusted those things to begin with . . ._

Shaking his head, he used the aura to search for the portal, though he had a sneaking suspicion of what it might be. Sure enough, the forgotten fez belonging to Grunkle Stan lit up blue as well, spinning in its place on the wooden floor of the attic.

_Find Mabel, get the heck out of here. Easy, right?_

Suddenly, the hat tore in two, and a gigantic crimson portal blossomed in the center of the room, filling the air with a devilish light. Through the portal there was . . . a cube. An enormous red cube, rivalling Bill's Bubble in comparison. It was slightly translucent, and bits of debris and other items floating in the space, which seemed to be filled with that strange red liquid. And in the center of that mess, Dipper could sense the faint, very faint pulse of Mabel's existence.

_I'm coming, Mabel, don't you worry!_


	7. The Outcome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Got some excellent feedback on Chapter 6, so I’m happy that people are enjoying the series. We’re nearing the finale, and although we may be nearing the end of this particular story, that doesn’t mean that this is the end of my Mind Palace AU. *hint hint* Please enjoy Chapter 7!

“Mabel? Mabel!? Can you hear me?” Dipper shouted, banging his fist against the side of the cube. There was no response from inside. Dipper couldn’t see through the mass of red liquid and chunks of debris, but he could sense that Mabel was inside. His magic traced out her existence like a light, pulsing, as if her soul itself was breathing. He put a hand against one of the sides, wondering how he was supposed to break through, when suddenly the surface cracked beneath his fingers.

“Oh, right, Mind Palace, Mindscape and magic and all that junk. Gotta get used to that . . .” he said. He took a breath and put both hands out in front of him, willing the cube to break apart. As if reading his thoughts, the cube immediately shattered, releasing a torrent of the red liquid mixed with debris. Mabel, who had been floating unconscious in the center of the mass, floated for a second before falling towards the ground. Dipper shot forward, ignoring falling chunks of debris and caught his sister in his arms.

_Good, she’s still breathing,_ Dipper thought, making sure that her chest was moving and that there wasn’t any water being expelled from her mouth. Guess the prison cube was only to keep her trapped inside that magic portal. Speaking of magic . . .

Dipper quickly located the chain that was around Mabel’s neck. He carefully broke the chain from her neck, holding up the spinning pendant up to the light so that he could see it properly. The necklace was dormant, which was a stark difference from his own that he left downstairs. His own Entity had been very adamant, and had tried its best to not be destroyed, but Mabel’s own Entity had been around longer, feeding on the magical overflow that had been released through Mabel’s continued use of the technique. Dipper broke it and half and sealed the necklace, chain and all, into a blue bubble.

_Best to keep this one destroyed as well, and to keep all the bits sealed in case Entity decided to use it against them somehow._

He mentally opened a direct portal to the bottomless pit memory, and tossed the bubble into it. The portal closed as soon as the bubble cleared the opening.

Dipper carried Mabel’s limp form out of the crimson portal, sealing it behind him. He set her down gently onto her bed, and placed his hand on her shoulder. His hand glowed blue, some of the glow transferring into Mabel. She stirred at the sudden rush of energy, and sat up a little quicker than Dipper would have liked.

She looked around, still in a daze, unsure of where she was. The last thing that she remembered was being in the center of a collapsing pile of memory items, and a feeling of drowning, a feeling of dread . . .

“ _DIPPER!!!_ ” she screamed, getting up from the bed, right past the young man in question, and ran to look out the window.

“Ahem,” Dipper cleared his throat, and Mabel spun around to face her twin. Her expression gave the feeling as if she didn’t recognize him, or that she simply couldn’t believe that he was right in front of her. She slowly approached, wary, and it was only when she placed her palm on his cheek that she came to that sudden realization.

“Dip! You’re HERE! And you’re in my _mind?_ My Mind Palace _?_ And you . . . you . . .”

Dipper stopped her babble by grabbing the hand that was on his cheek, applying pressure, as if reassuring her of his existence. Mabel finally smiled, giving out a squeal and pulling her brother into a bone-crushing hug.

“Oof! Mabel . . . can’t . . . breathe . . .” squeaked Dipper. Mabel let him go, and kept hold of his hands.

“What the _heck_ happened here? My palaces are falling apart, I couldn’t access anything, and _you’re_ here of all things.”

“You collapsed out in the real world. You started having weird spasms and you were close to falling into a magical coma.”

“Um, aren’t we still in my mind? I could still be in a coma, bro.”

“Fair point. Also, the Entities are sort of evil and tried trapping you in your palace while taking over your magic.”

“Whaaa? Seriously? Even my Entity?”

“Um, yes, Mabel,” said Dipper. Mabel searched her thoughts, and remembered that happened before her blackout.

“So . . . I know that Entities take the form of what you’re thinking of . . . I saw your Entity go from Bill to . . . me . . .”

“Oh, um . . .” stammered Dipper.

“And you seemed to have imagined me with bigger . . .”

“Aaand we’re stopping that thought there!” Dipper cut in, remembering that they were still in Mabel’s Mind Palace. Too late, though, as Dipper’s magic activated unconsciously.

“Aaand you made my boobs grow bigger, Dipping Sauce,” Mabel noted, looking down.

“O-kay, please fix it, please fix it!” Dipper said, turning away and blushing furiously.

“You’re lucky you’re my favorite brother,” said Mabel, sighing. After everything was back in order, Mabel couldn’t help but poke a little more fun at her poor brother.

“Sooooo, developing a crush on more than one girl at once, eh Dip?”

“I h-have no clue what you’re referring to. . .”

“Um, doi! Smabble! You’re totally crushing on her! Ohmygod Dip why haven’t you told me?!”

“What am I supposed to say? She’s like two years younger than us, and she’s really pretty, and even if she _did_ think anything of me . . . I’m just a weird loner and I talk about weird supernatural stuff a lot and . . . _hey wait,_ what do you mean ‘more than one girl,’ Mabel?”

“Exhibit A,” Mabel responded, pointing to herself with both thumbs. Dipper went as crimson as the recently closed portal. Mabel continued,

“Hey, I won’t judge, broseph. I mean, you’re sharing an apartment alone with someone that’s as adorable as me, so your guy-brain obviously couldn’t help but imagine something along those lines at some point, right? Me, a flowering young lady, and you, a handsome young lad. Haha, that, and the fact that you didn’t even try to deny the fact that you have a crush on a certain girl with freckles and a name that eerily rhymes with mine. Guess you like girls whose names rhyme with ‘table,’ huh bro? _Huh? Huh? Huh?_ ” Mabel accented each ‘ _Huh?_ ’ with a poke to Dipper’s belly. Dipper didn’t know whether to be annoyed or more embarrassed.

“Mabes, we’ll talk about this later, okay? We need to get out of here before your Entity takes over your magic and completely destroys your Mind Palace . . . and . . .” Dipper started, before falling silent, looking out the window.

“Why’d you stop talking?”

“Did you hear that?”

“Um, no, I don’t hear . . . _anything._ ”

“Exactly. When I first got here, the palaces were disconnecting, and everything was fracturing and shaking and falling apart, and filling with red lightning . . . and now . . .”

The world was eerily silent.

* * *

 

Dipper and Mabel walked out of the Shack, looking around the nearby areas. There was no rumbling in the distance, no fracturing world or red energy seeping into the horizon.

“What happened? I thought the world was collapsing . . .” said Dipper.

“I’m not sure . . . I haven’t been out here for a bit, so still not too sure what else is going on . . .” said Mabel.

“Let’s just try and make our way out of here. Mabel, what’s the quickest way out of your Mind Palace?”

Mabel didn’t respond.

“Mabel, what’s up? Ford said that in order for you to wake up, I need to get you out through an exit, which only you know about.”

“I-I’m trying, but . . . I just . . . can’t remember . . .” said Mabel quietly, putting a hand to her temple. No matter how much she tried, she just couldn’t come up with the images that she needed.

“Can’t remember?! Mabel, you’re the one with the Mind Palace, you were so much better than me at this technique, you were the one that built this world, what’s going on?”

**_“I’ll tell you what’s going on! You’ve fallen right into my trap!”_ **

From behind them, the Mystery Shack suddenly burst into flames. From the smoky depths of the flaming doorway, a blackened figure stepped through the flames. The Entity had assumed Dipper’s twelve-year old form. It stood at attention at the porch of the burning shack, looking more sinister as the flames roared and swayed behind it. The smile on the creature was intense, a sinister, twisted smile, eyes burning white hot and sharpened teeth.

“What have you done to Mabel? What have you done to her Mind Palace?” Dipper shouted over the roaring flames.

**_“Simple, I severed the connections Mabel had with all of her palaces. They’re still out there somewhere, but only I have access to them now! Watch!”_ **

The Entity opened a portal out of nowhere, pulling a photo frame out of the palace that Dipper first entered: their college apartment. Entity proceeded to set the photograph on fire, watching with glee as the twins’ faces turned to horror.

**_“I just needed the both of you out of this one so that I could torch it! No need for you guys to try and escape through the portals in there.”_ **

“What do you want with us? What purpose do you have to do something like this?” Dipper yelled.

**_“You really wanna know, hotshot?”_** the Entity growled. It morphed into Mabel, the college version of his sister instead of the younger one.

**_“Mabel’s got an exceptionally creative mind, even for a human. All the other humans we’ve possessed didn’t have anywhere near the mental capacity needed to release all this magic. Closest we almost had was some old guy with six fingers on each hand, but a certain ‘maniacal triangle’ beat us to the punch there. Next best thing though, we happened upon the old man’s great-niece.”_ **

Mabel grasped the back of Dipper’s shirt for support as Dipper stood between her and the Entity.

“You’re not getting your hands on my sister!”

**_“Why? Because you_ ** **love _her? Because you’re her hero who will destroy enemies with one attack? Grow up, Dipper Pines! You can’t protect her, you can’t do anything!”_**

“Oh yeah? Well we’ll see about THAT!” Dipper shouted, shooting a beam of blue energy from his hand. Entity deflected the beam effortlessly, faking a yawn and wiping its hands on its blackened sweater.

**_“Why, Dipper, I’m surprised that you’re so quick to fire at something that looks exactly like your sister,”_** it said in a mocking tone. **_“What was that about me not getting my hands on her?”_**

Dipper grimaced, and then began shooting consecutive beams at his foe. Not even bothering to deflect them this time, Entity sidestepped the blasts easily, doing the same twirls and little spins that Mabel liked to do during their bi-monthly Nerf Gun battles in the apartment. The creature yelled in Mabel’s voice,

**_“Give it up, bro, you won’t hit me! I’ve been feeding off the magic supply in Mabel’s head. I’m far more powerful than even your Entity that you defeated, and I’m way too powerful to be taken down by the likes of you.”_ **

Dipper had had enough. Pulling his shirt out of his sister’s grip, he charged forward, creating a blue light sword in his hands and swinging it at the Entity. It stopped the sword in its hand, shattering the blade and socking Dipper right in the chest. Dipper flew back so fast that he crashed through the trunk of a nearby tree. Pain shot through his body all at once.

**_“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I turned on all pain senses in the Mind Palace. Overwrote some safety features, collapsed portals and tunnels, put up magical barriers and whatnot. Basically, I control the Mind Palace now, and you’re in MY domain!”_ **

“Entity . . . why are you doing this? I thought you were my friend!” Mabel cried out. Entity turned its attention to the female Pines twin.

**_“Don’t think that you can trust everything, hun! I used you to access the magical output that you’ve been releasing through the Mind Palace. I knew you’d become addicted to it, and I subtly convinced you to overuse it.”_ **

Mabel looked over at her brother, who was groaning and nursing a hurt arm. Mabel looked back at Entity, face steeled with determination.

“Maybe you are powerful, but there’s one thing that you don’t have.”

**_“And what’s that?”_ **

“You don’t have the bond that my brother and I have. You may have control of the palace, but you don’t have control over our memories.”

Mabel’s entire body glowed bright blue, and suddenly the ground began shaking. The earth split apart, and a gigantic red journal, complete with the six-fingered insignia, rose from the ground.

**_“What in the world is this?”_ **

“You don’t know this, but if Dipper’s here, then that means that he used the Dreamscape magic to get in here. As long as there’s a physical connection between us in the real world, I have access to _his_ memories too!” Mabel cried out. From his place on the ground, Dipper came to that realization too. He had been able to open Mabel’s puzzles and doors, and he was able to bring his memories into her Palace, so it stood to reason that Mabel could do the same for his own Palace.

“You were created from my memories, so you know how I work inside and out. But you never learned how Dipper thinks. He overthinks things, he does stupid stuff, he crushes over girls way out of his league, and he’s clueless in a lot of things, but he’s also faced the greatest monsters this universe has ever created. He’s defeated countless evils, destroyed demons, and even saved the world. His brain houses memories of EVERY single creature we’ve ever encountered! And I’m setting them all on YOU!”

**_“Good luck trying, kid! I control all the portals here, I’ll just erase your doorway and then I’ll get back to destroying you! HA!”_** Entity cried out, snapping its fingers. Chains appeared and snaked their way around the book, holding it shut.

“There’s one more thing I forgot to mention. There’s two of us, and there’s only one of you!” Mabel raised her arm, and Dipper suddenly was teleported to her side, fully healed. He suddenly felt an insane amount of power surging through his body, and looked over at Mabel.

“How are you controlling magic this easily?”

“Alpha twin! Alpha twin!” came the chant.

“Alright, alright, I’ll give it to you this time too, Mabes,” said Dipper, facing the Entity. The Entity still showed no signs of stepping down.

**_“Still think you can fight back, huh? Fine then, I’ll play along, come at me with everything you’ve got!”_ **

“Twins?” said Dipper, holding out his hand. Mabel grabbed it and held their intertwined hands up high.

“Twins!”

The chains on the giant journal were blasted off, and it flipped open, pages flying one after another from the book. Each and every creature, both good and bad, both small and large, came into being before them. Within seconds, a massive army of supernatural creatures stood on the fields, illuminated by the ominous glow of the burning Mystery Shack.

“ _DEATH!!!_ ” Mabel shouted, pointing towards the Entity. With a combined roar, all the creatures charged the evil Entity.

Entity went to work, running through the mob, shooting beams left and right, pulverizing monsters as it went. It was still using Mabel’s form, so it was able to duck and weave through the masses of creatures, easily cutting the attacking forces down by half in an instant.

**_“Give it up, kids! This is a fight you won’t win!”_ **

“We’ll see about that!” Dipper yelled. He looked at Mabel.

“Ready?”

“Yupp-eroni!”

“That’s what I’ve been waiting to hear.”

The twins ran straight for the Entity, who was busy throwing a couple of unicorns and a gnome off its back.

**_“Think you got what it takes?”_ **

“Dipper, now!”

“Right!”

Dipper and Mabel shrouded themselves in blue flames of magic, each grabbing one of the Entity’s arms. The evil being was powerful, but with the combined strength and magic from the twins, it was starting to struggle to break free.

**_“Urgh, don’t . . . think you’ll win . . .!”_ **

“Get the journal!” Mabel commanded the nearby creatures. Two manotaurs grabbed the giant tome, opening it to a blank page. A new portal opened up, this one leading to a void of inky blackness: Dipper's memory of the bottomless pit, the disposal site of their memories.

“NOW!” Dipper shouted. They pushed the Entity towards the book, closing it quickly as it tipped backwards into the portal.

**_“Don’t think you’ve won! I’ll be back!!!!!!”_** it yelled as it disappeared into the void. They conjured chains, covering the book once more and locking it several times over.

As they breathed sighs of relief, the book started shaking violently, as the Entity was struggling to break free from its prison. Its voice bled through the pages of the book:

**_“You think this is over? You may have trapped me for now, but how will you stop the complete destruction of Mabel’s Mind Palace? I rigged all the palaces to self-implode at once in case something happened to me, so since I’m trapped in here, I’m taking you down with me! All of Mabel’s memories, gone forever! She’ll be nothing but an empty shell, devoid of any and all emotion and memory. The girl you call your sister will be NO MORE!!!”_ **

As if on cue, the world started shaking even more violently than before. The creatures that the twins had conjured started to flicker out of existence. Where the book had emerged from the ground, more cracks were forming, splitting the earth and heading straight for the twins.

“Run!” Dipper shouted. He grabbed Mabel’s hand, pulling them both to the safety of the porch, the only part of the house that wasn’t on fire. Thankfully, Mabel had stretched it out magically to accommodate more items, so there was enough room to stand without having to be too close to the flames or the approaching holes in the ground.

“We need a portal out of here!” said Dipper, looking around. “Are you _sure_ that you can’t access any of your exits?”

“Mmmm . . . I’m trying,” Mabel mumbled, but it was no use. None of her efforts to form her usual portals worked. “But it’ll take some time before those bridges are connected again, and we don’t have the luxury of waiting around.”

“Well, can we try opening one together? We might be able to make one out of here if we combine our magic.”

“It’s worth a shot,” said Mabel.

As the earth crumbled away, the last of it falling in, Mabel and Dipper stared out past the edge of the porch. The rest of the world had vanished, leaving only a large expanse of white in all directions. The wooden platform of the porch was the only thing that was left of Mabel’s mind palace she had constructed specifically for Dipper. Entity really did a number on this world with all its modification and destruction. If they didn’t get out of here now, they’d end up trapped, or worse.

Grasping hands once again, the twins held their arms out in front of them, concentrating all their mental power on the space in front of them. The portal flickered in and out of sight, weakly glowing and fading just as fast. They concentrated harder, focusing on that spot and willing the portal to open fully.

Finally, just when they had spent most of their energy, the opening bloomed into existence, a pure white light accompanied by a low humming sound. It was still unstable, as it took the combined efforts of the twins to keep it open.

“Doesn’t look like we can keep it open much longer,” said Dipper. The porch was starting to become shaky, and chunks of the edges were disintegrating fast.

“Ready, sis?”

Mabel nodded. Dipper turned, ready to leave, when Mabel grabbed his sleeve, stopping him from leaving.

“Mabel, wha-?” before Mabel pulled him around to face her, giving him a tight hug.

“I love you, Dipper. You know that, right?”

“Y-Yeah, of course, I-”

 “Good,” she said, pulling his face to hers. She kissed him, full on the lips, pouring all of her pent-up emotions and feelings into this kiss, and then let go, taking a step back. Dipper stood there, having been dazed by his sister’s unexpected kiss.

“Mabel?”

“And because I love you, I’m gonna make sure you get out of here alive.”

Without warning, Mabel pushed him backwards into the open portal.

“ _MABEL! NOOOO!!!!_ ” Dipper cried out, losing balance. He reached his arm out, trying to grab hold of something.

“Sorry bro, someone needs to stay behind and make sure my brain doesn’t implode. Entity did say that if my palace goes, my memories go with them, so I’m gonna stay as long as it takes to fix everything. Guess this means that you’ll be graduating without me, huh?”

“ _MABEL!!!_ ” Dipper seemed to fall in slow motion. Mabel’s eyes were full of tears. Dipper couldn’t hear her say anything, but her thoughts transmitted to him instantly.

. . .

_Took me forever to tell you I’m freaking in love with you, Dipper._

_. . ._

_Took everything I had to not lose my cool when I teased you about Smabble._

_. . ._

_Sorry, guess I was being jealous and stuff._

_. . ._

_I finally got to tell you how I feel . . . finally got to kiss you . . . to hold you . . . to tell you that I loved you . . ._

_. . ._

_Goodbye, Dipper._

_“MABEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”_ Dipper’s screams echoed through the portal, as he watched Mabel’s face fizzle from his sight. The last thing he saw was Mabel’s lips, and before he blacked out, he could clearly tell what she was saying to him:

 

_I love you._


	8. Rebuild

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After an overwhelmingly positive response on chapter 7, I am eternally grateful for all of you who have stuck with this story until now. I hope to finish the Mind Palace AU series just as strong as chapter 7, so brace yourselves, because the story’s not over just yet. TW: pinecest ^~^

_“Where am I?”_

_. . ._

_“Who . . . am I?”_

_. . ._

_“Am I . . . dead?”_

_. . ._

_“I don’t remember . . .”_

_. . ._

_“Wait . . . I do remember . . . one name . . .”_

_. . ._

_“Di . . . pper? Why does that . . . name . . . sound so . . .”_

_. . ._

_“. . . familiar?”_

* * *

 

She opened her eyes, squinting as the sudden brightness hit her eyes. She opened and shut her eyes a few times, getting used to the brilliant light. After a moment, she was able to fully open her eyes and take in her surroundings.

The world was pure white. There didn’t seem to be any boundaries or horizons anywhere, so the expanse of white seemed stretched outwards in all directions. She didn’t even appear to be standing on any sort of surface; she felt as if she were floating, yet there was no indication as to how high or low she was to the ground.

Turning her head didn’t help much, as the scenery didn’t change. Looking down at herself, she was wearing what seemed to be . . . a sweater? Something like that. It was fuzzy and warm, but at the same time, it felt like it belonged on her body. She felt the material carefully, and decided that she enjoyed the ticklish, scratchy material beneath her fingers.

Suddenly, a rushing sound filled the room. Ghostly outlines suddenly dotted the space around her, showing various scenes and objects. There was a slightly transparent sweater near her, pink in color and sporting a brass key on the front. There was another, this one bright red with what appeared to be a pig’s face. A dark rectangle floated behind her, and on closer inspection the shape was revealed to be the view from the inside of a sweater, with light barely poking through the holes in the stitching.

She lifted her hand from her body, and the images disappeared just as quickly. Another touch, and a new set of images appeared, all of them seemingly clothing-related. She reached out and tried to grab one, but her hand passed right through it as if it wasn’t there. Or perhaps, she was the one that wasn’t there.

She could see that she had hands, and legs and a body as well. Hands that sported many forms of bracelets and rings, legs that were housed in mismatched socks of various color and design, and no shoes.

Another tickling sensation appeared, this one against her forehead and the back of her neck. It was a much gentler sensation, less rough than the sweater’s material. Reaching up, she found that the cause of the tickling sensation was a set of long, flowing brown hair. The hair was messily curled, and billowed out in every direction. Taking a lock of hair and gripping it in her hand, she wondered what would appear this time.

This time, instead of images or scenes, various emotions and sensations enveloped her at once. The taste of hair in her mouth, various hair products with scents ranging from cherry to candy canes to island breeze, that weird creepy feeling that you’d get when someone was sniffing your hair.

Curiously, she grabbed hold of her socks, other articles of clothing, her arms and legs, and got more and more excited as she experienced these strange and wonderful . . . well she didn’t exactly know what to call them. Movie scenes? Scent-o-ramas? Scratch-and-Sniff 3D video clips?

* * *

 

Eventually, she ran out of things to test out, and the world around her returned to its white state once more. What else was there to do? She felt a nagging suspicion that she was supposed to do something else, but she couldn’t quite place the thought.

Placing her hand onto her chin, she thought and she thought, but nothing was connecting, there wasn’t anything familiar that she could think about. She didn’t know whether she was supposed to even think anything to begin with, or whether she had some sort of purpose for existing in this white world.

She let out a sigh. In this space, that little sound echoed, bouncing off unseen walls and fading into the distance as it reverberated into the space.

A sound. Maybe a sound would help her figure things out. She took a breath, and tried making a noise.

“Ahh,” was all she could manage. It wasn’t much, but the echo was much stronger this time. She giggled, and then as the giggle echoed back to her, her curiosity became stronger as well.

“AAH!” she shouted, the force of the yell coupled with the resulting echo causing her ears to ring. Giggles continued, and so this continued for several minutes before her voice became tired. Guess that fun wore thin pretty quickly, in this world that didn’t have anything in it.

* * *

 

It was only after several hours, or maybe it was a few seconds, that she realized that she had been thinking something before she had opened her eyes. She thought about it, but found difficulty in pinpointing the exact thought.

_What exactly was I thinking about?_

Almost unconsciously, her hand made its way up to her face once more. This time, she took a slender finger and traced the outline of her mouth, which immediately caused a rush of sensations at once. A fiery warmth, the feeling of something rough and warm connecting with her lips, the feeling of sudden breathing against her face, the feeling of that warm something pulling away from her own mouth, and then . . .

A single figure appeared in front of her, like a ghostly hologram. A boy . . . no, a young man. Sparse facial hairs peppering his chin and jaw, light brown eyes that seemed almost golden in the light of the world. Lips that appeared rough and chapped – the obvious source of that fiery warm sensation against her own lips. Hair covered by a blue-and-white cap, the faint outline of a birthmark peeking out from behind his bangs.

The girl reached out, wanting to touch the image, slightly afraid that her hand would pass through this one as well. Except . . . it didn’t pass through.

Her hand connected with the slightly transparent cheek. The image was unmoving, but seemed so realistic, so lifelike. Running her hand down his face, she felt the bristle against her skin, the smoothness of the parts of his face where facial hair didn’t grow, the tangled locks of hair that spilled out from the back of his cap.

She couldn’t help it, nor did she know exactly what caused her to do so, but she leaned in and planted a small kiss upon the young man’s lips.

At once, a stream of memories came rushing back to her like a water balloon colliding with her head.

 

_Dipper! Dipper! DIPPER!_

She remembered who she was, and she remembered who _he_ was.

Her memories jolted through her entire body like a box of sparklers, kick-starting the healing process and building new connections to other palaces. Her head was a whirlwind of emotions, sensations, experiences, and they came back to her as crystal-clear as could be.

She was Mabel Pines, the girl who loved wearing sweaters and sparkly things, who made jokes about ducks and who can kick butt at miniature golf and Super Smash Brothers. She loved pigs and cats and teddy bears, and she absolutely adored glitter.

He was Dipper Pines, the boy who had stayed by her side all her life; Dipper, the man that she had grown up with, the one who knew her the best. Dipper . . . the one she saved from her mind’s destruction. Dipper, her twin brother, the one she loved more than anyone else in this world.

* * *

 

Mabel straightened up, watching as the image of her brother faded before her eyes. It wasn’t perfect; she couldn’t recall every single memory that she had forgotten, but she knew where to start fixing things. She opened her hand, and concentrated with all her might. She didn’t have enough power to create a large portal, not yet anyways. Entity had drained most of the magic in her Mind Palace, but that didn’t stop her from using what little magic she had left. A small circle appeared in the space in front of her, just enough for her to squeeze her arm through. She reached in, grabbing the first thing that she could, and pulling it through the opening before it closed on her.

_Whew, magic’s a lot harder to use when you don’t have much of it left._

She opened her hand, revealing what she had grabbed. It was a small silver key, sporting metal wings that were dented slightly.

_Thank you HP: Sorcerer’s Stone for being so memorable!_ Mabel thought, with a smile. Entity may have severed connections between her different Mind Palaces, but that didn’t mean that he was any match for her creativity.

She held the key out in front of her, a beam of light shot out of the tip, creating a large portal of white light.

_First things first, reconnect all the Palaces together. Second thing, remember all my lost memories, every single one, even if it takes forever. Third, escape the Mind Palace. Fourth, get back to the real world and kiss the heck out of Dipper. Wait, actually, let’s focus on the first three steps, ol’ girl._

Mabel stepped through the doorway, leaving a flash of white light in her wake. The portal closed, and the expanse of white nothingness returned to its silent state once more.

 

* * *

 

 

“ _MABEL!_ ”

Dipper shouted his sister’s name, bolting upright a little too fast. He held his head, fighting back the urge to vomit, and looked around to get a sense of where he was. His eyes immediately fell on his sister, her hand still clasped in his. She wasn’t moving.

“Mabel! Mabel! Can you hear me? Oh no . . .”

“Dipper, Dipper! Over here!” came a voice from somewhere above him. Dipper looked upward towards Mabel’s desk, and saw Grunkle Ford staring at him from Mabel’s laptop, worry in his eyes.

“Grunkle Ford, Mabel’s . . . she’s not moving!”

“I can see that, my boy. Please, calm down!”

“I spent hours in there trying to find her, trying to save her, and now . . .”

“Calm down, Dipper! You’ve only been gone for five minutes!”

“Wh-Wha-?” Dipper looked down at his watch. _7:35 AM._

“We were really only gone for five minutes? B-But I was wandering in there for what seemed like hours, and Mabel’s been in there longer than me, so . . .”

“Dipper, the Mind Palace works differently time-wise. How else are you able to memorize such a huge amount of information at once if there wasn’t some time magic involved in the process? I’ve been here the whole time; trust me, she’s still breathing. Now tell me, what happened? Quickly!”

Dipper took a few breaths to steady himself. The last thing he needed was an anxiety attack at this moment.

“Um, there were these . . . creatures . . .”

“The Entities,” Ford said, looking through his notes. “Nasty, manipulative creatures; only things worse than them are Bill Cipher and the Nightmare Realm.”

“Yeah, they mentioned you, I think. Anyways, I managed to beat my Entity and then Mabel and I trapped hers in her memory of the bottomless pit. . .”

“Yes, yes, that should keep them at bay for a while, so as long as you don’t overuse the Mind Palace and remain wary of them, you won’t be overtaken. Now, what happened with Mabel?”

“The Entity had taken over the magic in Mabel’s palaces. It severed the connections between Mabel and her palaces, and used the magic to attack us. It said something about rigging Mabel’s memories to self-destruct, or something, and . . .”

“ _Self-destruct?!?_ Dipper, why didn’t Mabel exit with you?”

“Mabel said . . .” Dipper paused, choosing to keep Ford in the dark about . . . some of the details.

“She said that she was gonna rebuild things, and that she didn’t want to lose her memories. . .”

Ford put his notes down, and stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“I suppose that makes sense. You say that the Entity only severed connections, not destroyed them entirely, correct? This means that if she can keep the destruction from occurring, then there’s a chance that all her memories are all intact.”

“Well, it destroyed her Mind Palace that was holding all her memories about me . . . so I . . . I dunno,” Dipper looked down at his sister, who was still immobile. She was still breathing at a normal rate, which gave him some small comfort.

Ford listened carefully as Dipper told his tale. Mabel still had not woken up, but her condition was deemed stable by Ford, so Dipper stayed by her side as he recounted what happened to his uncle. He left out the part where Mabel had kissed him. Finally, after almost half an hour, Ford straightened up in his seat.

“Dipper, listen to me. You and Mabel share a bond that is stronger than even the best of friends. This is the bond of someone who you have spent your whole life with, and you two have had each other’s backs since day one. While I may not have been present for most of your lives, I can assure you that nothing is more powerful than the bond that family shares. Mabel could never forget you.”

“Thanks, Grunkle Ford. So I guess I’m just supposed to continue to wait till she’s done fixing things?” Dipper asked. Ford nodded.

“The brain is a delicate amalgamate of neurons, and while the rebuilding process is a lot faster for previously created memories, it could be hours, days even, before Mabel . . .”

Suddenly, Mabel’s body started glowing and emitting a small humming sound. Dipper and Ford both looked at her glowing figure.

“Or, you know . . . she could already be done fixing everything and she’s just a bit late to the party,” finished Ford.

Mabel’s body magically lifted a solid foot off the ground, the force of the magic causing papers to fly into the air and her bedside lamp to start flickering. Then, all at once, Mabel’s body went back to normal, and she dropped out of the air. Dipper, prepared this time, caught her lightly in his arms. Mabel finally stirred, rubbing her eyes and blinking up at Dipper.

“Hey there, Alpha twin,” Dipper said, smirking at his sister.

“H-Hey . . . um, where . . .?”

“Mabel, it’s good to see that you’re well,” said Ford from the laptop.

“Ohmygosh, Grunkle Ford?!? What’re you . . . and why am I . . . wha?”

“You’ve been gone for a good half hour, Mabel,” Dipper said, causing Mabel’s eyes to widen.

“Wha – no way, I was in there for ages, fixing bridges, connecting Palaces, salvaging memories, locking away Entity, reorganizing my brain junk so that I could find everything again . . . I was in there for like . . . a month, no . . . two months . . . ”

“Time-magic thing, comes free with every Mind Palace,” said Dipper. Mabel pushed at his face.

“Pfft, shut up,” she said, dropping out of Dipper’s arms and landing on her feet, a little unsteady. Dipper caught her arm, helping her straighten up. Ford cleared his throat.

“Listen, both of you.” The twins faced the laptop screen.

“The Mind Palace, as you are aware, is a very dangerous tool when overused. I’m sure you know by now the consequences of overexerting your brains. I’m not telling you to never use the technique again, as it’s an excellent method for people to learn anything as well as a useful technique for coping with stress or battling your inner demons. However, I must ask you two to be mindful of the amount of magic you’re outputting. It’s dangerous if not used correctly, and can have catastrophically negative effects on your bodies as well.”

Mabel smiled, and then leaned in closer to the computer screen.

“Don’t worry about that, Grunkle Ford! I’ve had plenty of time to practice.” Mabel lifted a finger, and a stack of books near the twins floated into the air, landing with a thud in a perfect pile on Mabel’s desk. She levitated her purse into her outstretched hands, then pulled out a chocolate bar and took a big bite out of it.

“Mmmm, I really need some food right now . . .” she said, then paused, looking amused at the sight of their shocked expressions.

“ _YOU CAN USE MAGIC OUTSIDE YOUR MIND PALACE?!?_ ” yelled Dipper and Ford at the same time. Mabel giggled.

“Hey, Entity may have been a jerk, but he taught me a lot of cool stuff about the Mind Palace. I’ve been doing this in the real world for like a week already and I’m already an expert at it.” As if to prove her point, she lifted the chocolate into the air, magically unwrapping it and allowing the wrapper to float on its own into the garbage bin. It was Ford who spoke up first.

“Um, if you two won’t mind me visiting, I’d like to do some research on this when I have the time . . . no, I’ll definitely make the time to visit.”

“No worries Grunkle Ford, I kind of want to figure out how this works too,” said Dipper, staring at his own hands. Ford gave the two of them a smile.

“Keep her in line for me, Dipper. I’ll contact you when I’m free so that we can start researching this.”

“Haha, more like I’ll keep him in line, Grunkle Ford. Hey-yo!” said Mabel, elbowing her brother and winking. Ford didn’t seem to notice the wink.

“Well, glad you two are safe. I’ll be checking in every now and then,” he said, before remotely shutting down Mabel’s laptop.

The twins stood in the center of Mabel’s room, not sure where to start. Mabel was the first to break the silence.

“So . . . um, about what I said earlier . . .”

“Oh, um you mean . . .”

“. . . about Smabble?” said Mabel.

“Oh, uh, that . . .”

“Yeah . . . if . . . if you want to ask her out, I’m not gonna make you say no. I don’t want you to . . . ya know . . . keep you from going after girls just cuz I don’t trust ‘em. . .”

“Mabel . . .” said Dipper. He took her hand pulling her closer to him. Mabel didn’t know whether to resist or let it happen, but in the end, she gave in to the fact that she’s been wanting this too.

His lips met hers, and a rush of emotions ran through the both of them. Mabel started to kiss back, her eyes closing as she practically melted at the touch of his lips. Suddenly, the emotions reached a peak, and Mabel realized that in her happiness, she had made the two of them levitate while they were kissing. She clung to him, surprised, but then they started laughing together.

“Well, um . . . there’s my answer. I love you, too, Mabel.”

Mabel let out a squeal, and hugged her brother, peppering kisses all over his face, his nose, his forehead, his lips. She went in for another deep kiss, and he put his hands on her back, pulling her even closer to him. Finally, they came up for air, hugging and giggling.

“Okay, okay, Mabes, I love you and all, but can you please let us down?”

“Oh, right.”

They landed softly on the carpet, still holding hands.

“So . . . um . . .” said Mabel.

“You . . . still wanna go to that award ceremony thing?”

Remembering that the two of them had basically won a “smartest kids in college” award, Mabel pretended to think about it.

“Hmmmm,” she said in a drawn out tone. “I cooooould go to this award thingy . . . or ~”

She smiled up at him.

“I could spend some one-on-one time with my bro-bro. After all, we have a _lot,_ and I mean a LOT to talk about. Am I right, or am I right?”

Dipper smiled.

“Sounds good to me.”


	9. Mind Palace - The Final Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, so the last chapter was well-received, and I have decided to make this one the final chapter. Sorry for those who expected more content on this story, but I feel like where I ended off the last chapter was a pretty good place to stop. This final chapter will be the epilogue to the whole story, basically giving a little recap as to what’s been going on with the Pines twins since discovering their new-found magical abilities. The Pines twins were juniors in college when this story began, and now they’ve finished college and are about to graduate at the top of their class. Of course, they’ve had all that time to practice and master their magic and the Mind Palace, under the careful observations of Grunkle Ford.  
> I could extend the story, but seeing as the story is based on the Mind Palace technique, there’s really not much else I can expand on.  
> Thank you guys for sticking with this story, and keep an eye out for future stories. This particular story may be finished, but I’ll definitely keep the MindPalace!AU alive forever, in my heart and in my memory.  
> (Word Count: 4163 words)

* * *

 

[ _Read Chapter Summary before reading this chapter_ ]

* * *

 

“Dip! C’mon, we’re gonna be late!” Mabel yelled from the front door. Kicking her high heels off, she stomped up to her brother’s room, flowery dress swaying as she ascended the staircase. She knocked on his door.

“Dipp-ing-ton, we’re gonna be late to our own graduation!” she called through the door. No response.

“Ugh, seriously, you think he’d be smarter than this,” Mabel sighed to herself. She pressed her hand flat against the door. The door glowed bright blue, then went transparent. She stepped through the open space, glancing back as the door immediately rematerialized behind her.

Dipper’s room was a sea of books and unwashed laundry. Thankfully, the clothes that she had chosen for him to wear were hanging on his bedpost, alongside his graduation gown. As for Dipper, he didn’t seem to be anywhere in the room. _Nice try, bro-bro, but remember who the Alpha twin is._

Mabel snapped her fingers, and a large blue bubble materialized in the air above Dipper’s bed. Reaching inside, Mabel grabbed hold of the first thing that touched her hand and pulled. Her hand emerged from the bubble gripping a long chunk of hair, followed by a forehead bearing a birthmark in the shape of the Big Dipper.

“Ow, ow, ow! Mabel! Watch the hair, you have a really strong grip!” yelled Dipper, wincing in pain. He tumbled out of the bubble and onto the bed, then yelping as the stack of books he was reading fell out of the bubble with him and onto his back.

“Well it’s not my fault that you’re wasting time doing, um, whatever it is you’re doing in there!” retorted Mabel. “Unlike you, _some_ of us here want to actually make it to graduation on time.”

“What? It’s not time for graduation, it’s . . .” started Dipper, trailing off as he looked down at his watch. “Oh . . .”

“Uh huh, exactly. See, bro, this is what happens when you decide to use your magic to make a bubble that can slow down time inside it so that you can have extra time to read and learn and junk.”

“H-Hey, no fair! At least I don’t use my magic to walk through walls and invading my personal space.”

“Um, Dip, I need you to remember two things for me. One, I’m your twin sister, and two, I’m your girlfriend. Personal space is basically kaput as long as you’re with me, get it? Got it? Good. Now can you please get dressed? I want the both of us to look _presentable_ when we go up there to accept our diplomas.” She smiled at him, but Dipper knew that smile. It was the smile she gave him when she wanted something, and given that she was much better than him at controlling magic, she knew _exactly_ how to get him to do what she wanted.

“Fine, fine, turn around for like a second, please?” Dipper rubbed the back of his head and stood up. Mabel obliged, facing the wall.

“One!” she counted, and then spun around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Dipper taking his shirt off. She was sorely disappointed, as Dipper had magically zapped his clothes on in that instant.

“Hey, no fair!” Mabel pouted.

“What? You said ‘get dressed’, but you also said that we’re late, so I’m just doing what I was told,” grinned Dipper. While he still wasn’t the best at using magic, he was getting much better.

“Yeah, but I didn’t say you could use magic . . . I kind of wanted to see you without your shirt . . .” Mabel said a little sadly. Dipper sighed, smiling at her.

For the most part, their new-found forbidden relationship didn’t really extend past hand-holding, kissing, and cuddling. During a few of their makeout sessions, Dipper’s hands would brush against Mabel’s back and go lower, and she’d twitch and both of them would go bright red, causing the room to magically heat up slightly. Sharing a bathroom was now more awkward than usual, as one of the twins would imagine the other in the shower, and accidentally make a cup shatter by magic. There was one particular incident where Dipper was trying to test out his abilities, and accidentally teleported into Mabel’s room while she was changing clothes. Mabel had screamed, grabbed her blanket to cover herself, and then reflexively started shooting lightning bolts at Dipper. His shirt still had the burn marks to prove it.

“Maybe later, ‘kay Sis?” he said, gently squeezing her hand. She smiled at him, then gave him a peck on the nose.

“Alrighty then, bro-friend. Let’s jump into the van and act like Autobots cuz we gotta rrrrrrrroll out!” she said, pulling him towards the door.

“Actually . . .” said Dipper. Mabel stopped and stared at him, immediately deducing what he wanted to say.

“Oh no you don’t, Dip. I remember what happened the _last_ time you tried teleporting, and I am not gonna have that happen at our graduation!”

“What? I’ve been practicing since then . . .”

Mabel sighed. They were late anyways, so if Dipper messed up, which was more than likely, then she’d fix it immediately and teleport them both to the correct location.

“Ugh, fine. Y’know, if you want help, I can always -”

“No, I can do it, I just need to concentrate.”

“Bro, it’s the Mind Palace, you’re supposed to concentrate to use it normally. After all that practicing and training that Grunkle Ford put us through, you’re still having trouble with it?”

“I-It’s . . . nothing, it’s just caution, that’s all.”

“We’ve been over this Dipper: Grunkle Ford said that as long as we use the Mind Palace safely and we don’t overuse magic, then we won’t be in any danger,” Mabel reassured Dipper, holding both of his hands.

“Well . . .”

“Alright, now come on, Dip-Dip! Look at me!”

“Nuh-uh,” Dipper said, avoiding eye contact.

“C’mon, you know you want to,” said Mabel, leaning over to try and catch his eye. Dipper turned his head left and right, avoiding her gaze. Finally, Mabel let go of his hands and placed both of them on either side of his face, pulling him to face her.

“You’ll do just fine. We’ll be just fine. I promise.”

Dipper sighed, staring into those large round eyes. He just couldn’t say no to those eyes, no matter how much he tried.

“I trust you,” he finally said.

“Good,” Mabel replied. “And you better hurry it up, mister, otherwise we’ll miss the ceremony, our speech, everything!”

“Gotcha,” Dipper said. Taking his sister’s hand, they hurried down to the front door, graduation gowns slung over their arms. Pulling his shoes on, Dipper called out to Mabel,

“Are you _sure_ we have everything we need?”

“I’m sure, hun, and even if we don’t, I’ll just warp them to us, remember?”

“Uh-huh, ‘kay then.”

* * *

 

Finally, they were ready. Dipper glanced at his watch again. 7:30AM. The two of them should have been on the road fifteen minutes ago, and it took around fifteen minutes to get to campus from their place. The graduating class was supposed to meet up at 8:00.

“Ready?” said Mabel, rushing in to the room from the hallway. She was slightly out of breath, but she managed to still look beautiful in that dress.

“Ready,” replied Dipper, holding out his hand. Mabel took a deep breath, and prepared to use magic just in case something went wrong. Dipper closed his eyes and concentrated. In his mind’s eye, he imagined the path that they normally drove to school.

_Right, so the pathway to school: we take a right at the four-way stop, we drive down the long road until we reach the stop light, then we make a right and we drive uphill for about ten minutes . . ._

“Remember to warp us somewhere where no one can see us,” said Mabel.

“I got it, I got it . . .” Dipper said, concentrating harder.

_Reach the parking lot, then the meet-up place is over at the school’s auditorium, but we need to get somewhere where no one can see us . . . so . . . aha! Backstage, the side area where they keep the old grand piano. Perfect._

“Got it,” Dipper said. He willed the magic to extend into his entire body, and then allowed the energy to float out in front of him. Opening his eyes, he saw that the portal had successfully opened up in front of them. Through the portal they could see the dim light of the lone light bulb, and the dark outline of the piano that the school had kept behind the auditorium curtains.

“Backstage. Good call,” said Mabel, impressed with the progress her brother had made.

“Thanks,” said Dipper. “Right, let’s get going then.”

They grabbed all their stuff and took a step through the portal. Mabel took extra care to make sure that the portal was silent, and sure enough, as they stepped into the darkness behind the curtain, the blue portal quietly faded behind them. Dipper and Mabel did a quick body check, to make sure that all their limbs, clothes and other belongings made it through safely.

“Everything seems to be in order, so I guess-” Dipper started, before Mabel clamped a hand over his mouth, muffling his sentence. Peeking through the gap in the curtains, they saw a janitor leaving the double doors on the far end of the room, closing the doors behind him with a low thud. The twins released a breath that both of them had been holding without realizing, and stepped out from behind the curtains. Thanks to that teleportation magic, they were now the first ones to arrive for graduation.

“Yes, score, we get front row!” said Dipper, chuckling. The front rows of the hall were always filled by the time Dipper usually got to class, but he didn’t mind. Dipper usually stayed in the back and memorize the slides as the teacher was lecturing, so he rarely had to take notes nowadays. Mabel, on the other hand, only went to lectures if she needed to, such as quiz days or days where the professor would be taking attendance. She was lucky enough to have professors who uploaded all the slides for the year at the beginning of the semester, so she just memorized them and the textbook within the first month of classes (having been told by Ford not to memorize them all in one night and risk another Entity incident) and spent her free time chatting with friends, getting homework done weeks in advance or hanging out with Dipper.

* * *

 

“So . . . um . . .” Mabel said. They sat in the front row, listening as people slowly filed into the auditorium one at a time. “Graduation, huh?”

“Yeah. Who would have thought that four years would go by that quickly?”

“Haha, you said the same thing about high school, doofus.”

“Shut up. Too bad that we had an incident happen to us this time around. High school was relatively boring by comparison.”

“High school was a bit scary though. Sure, it wasn’t exactly how Wendy made it out to be, but it was still a big change.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Heck, I would have taken fighting Bill all over again to avoid going through puberty again. Man, those were some awkward years,” said Dipper, rubbing the back of his neck. Mabel snuggled against his arm.

“Yeah, well, you turned out pretty handsome at the end of all that, y’know? Couldn’t stop staring once your voice got deeper and you got all muscle-y, kept on staring in secret ever since,” said Mabel, smiling up at him.

“Yeah? You and every other girl that wants to date me seem to think that I’m some Adonis or something. At least, the rumors that I’ve heard but never believed.”

“Don’t let it get to your head. Remember, as long as I’m around, eyes on me only,” said Mabel, gripping his arm tighter. “Mine.”

Dipper was about to make a cheesy comeback, but then the graduation staff began organizing people, getting everything into position for the big moment.

* * *

 

The graduation ceremony went by in a flash. Diplomas were handed out, tears were shed, families snapped photos and took videos on their cell phones, and as each student received their diplomas, each of them did a little pose at the end of the walkway, so that the professional photographers could document that moment for them. Dipper was handed his diploma and went out to the walkway, realizing at the last moment that he hadn’t thought of a silly pose to do. He stood there for a second, looking dazed, when suddenly something heavy slammed into his back. Craning his head to look around, he saw that Mabel had done a running jump and was now piggybacking on him, smiling widely as the crowd started cheering. The photographers went to town, snapping photo after photo, before one of the professors waved at the twins to hurry off the stage.

Mabel jumped off her brother’s back, and the twins walked back to their seats, holding hands and grinning.

“Twins. The cameras love us!” Mabel said, swinging her diploma around.

“Hey, don’t wave that around so much, we just got them,” said Dipper.

They hurried back to their seats, looking around for a glimpse of their family through the crowd. They didn’t have to look very far, as Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford pretty much stood out among the rest of the crowd. Stan had let Ford borrow one of his Mystery Shack suits, so it was even more apparent that the two of them were identical twins. Their parents, sitting to the right of the old men, were happily taking videos of the younger Pines twins as they were walking.

* * *

 

Finally, it was time for the closing speech. Dipper and Mabel, having graduated at the top of their year, were given the honor of both giving the speech. Dipper spent weeks in advance, preparing a small Mind Palace to store exactly what he was going to say, and how he was going to say it, while Mabel had spent the night before the ceremony memorizing topics that she wanted to say for graduation. They practiced inside Dipper’s “Slow-Time” bubble so that they had enough time to really practice and go over the speech. Dipper had wanted it to be long-winded and explain-y, kind of like his various lists, but under Mabel’s proofreading, the speech became much shorter.

* * *

 

Dipper and Mabel stepped up to the podium, adjusting the two provided microphones so that they each had one in front of them. Dipper cleared his throat, and spoke first.

“Good morning, everyone. My name is Dipper. The girl standing next to me with the light-up pig button on her gown is my twin sister, Mabel.”

The audience chuckled as Mabel pressed the pin on her lapel, which oinked into the microphone.

“We come from a little suburban town in California. We were pretty normal kids, playing with video games, toys and eating junk food.”

Mabel joined in.

“We were twelve when our parents shipped us to a little town in the middle of nowhere called Gravity Falls.”

Grunkle Stan and Ford smiled from the audience.

“We’ve had our fair share of summers there, spending time with our great-uncles . . .”

“. . . meeting new friends and sharing experiences together . . .” said Mabel.

“. . . and learning lots of things about the world,” said Dipper. “But we’ve also had our fair share of struggles. I’m sure all of you have your stories to tell, and your own struggles getting to where we all are today.” Mabel smiled, and continued,

“You can imagine the kinds of shenanigans we got into as kids: fighting gnomes and finding unicorns, meeting werewolves and vampires, and even saving the world a few times!” The audience chuckled.

“Like my sister said,” continued Dipper, “we’ve gone through so much in our lives, so many wonderful and fun experiences, as well as horrible or sad experiences, but those are the kinds of memories that we need to keep in our hearts.”

“Like this one time, I thought that I was a perfect, pure-of-heart maiden, and that I could do no wrong, but after an incident with a mean bully, I found out that sometimes you don’t have to be perfect all the time. Your imperfections can be beautiful too.”

“And I learned that sometimes, you don’t have to go chasing after girls or being awkward around someone that you like. Sometimes the perfect person for you can be your best friend, or even someone who’s been with you all along.”

He smiled at Mabel, before continuing,

“College was an amazing experience, and I’m sad to see this chapter of my life close. No more classes, no more schedules and final exams, so what else is there to do besides work and pay bills? There were lots of things that I wanted to do, but as graduation approached I felt as if I was stuck in a rut. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, and, honestly, I still don’t.”

“The real world is scary. That much I know is true,” said Mabel. “But if you’re sitting there in those chairs right now, then you’ve survived the real world up to this point. You didn’t make it to this point by sitting in a closed-off bubble, wanting the world to act the way you want. You have to make the most out of your life and keep on pushing forward, keep on fighting and make the most out of life!”

“Basically,” said Dipper, “what we’re trying to say is: learn from your mistakes. . .”

“. . . use those mistakes to make yourselves better men and women,” said Mabel.

“and be proud that you’ve made it this far. We may not know where life may take us, but when you’re battling a hundred gnomes, a three-sided monster, or some unstoppable magic . . .”

“. . . just know that you _can_ win, no matter how bad things may be. You can do it, just believe in your own abilities, and you’ll be sailing through life in no time.”

“I wish we could say more, but we’re out of time. So I’ll leave you with this,” said Dipper. He paused, reaching the final point in the mind palace where he stored his speech. The final image was an image of him and his sister, when they were twelve. He wanted to go back and tell the two that things will be alright, that things will be better. He smiled, and stared out into the crowd.

“Get out there and enjoy life, fellow graduates. After all, it’s gonna be summer soon.”

* * *

 

The family celebrated in full Pines fashion. The adults played card games and drank wine. The younger kids were all on their electronic devices, swapping trading cards and yelling as one kid basically overpowered the rest in a game of Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Grunkle Stan, in full con-man mode, was using every cheat he had to try and win at poker. However, he just couldn’t win against the sheer power of Ford’s poker skills, honed from years of gambling to survive in other dimensions, which made him the master of poker in fifty dimension.

The graduates were showered with gifts and kisses; gift cards and twenty dollar bills were pressed into their hands, and any objection to being given all that money was waved away. When asked whether the two planned on going their separate ways now that college was over, the twins maintained the cover that staying together was a lot cheaper, and there would always be family close by in case something happened. Plus, this way they saved themselves the trouble of having to move out.

Finally, the party wound its way to a close. Relatives said their goodbyes and drove around the corner, back to their hometowns. Grunkle Stan and Ford were the last ones to say goodbye. Dipper and Mabel’s parents had already said their farewells, and were in the kitchen cleaning up the food platters.

“To think, we saved the world with these kids and now they’ve finished college just like that,” sniffed Stan, not even trying to hide the fact that his eyes were tearing up. He was starting to get more emotional in his old age.

“I know, time flies, doesn’t it, Stanley?” said Ford. He looked back at Dipper and Mabel. “How do you guys feel? Anything ‘bad’ happen since last time?”

“Nope,” said Mabel. “All clear.”

“We’ve got it under control, Grunkle Ford,” Dipper said. “Plus, I’ve got this goofball here to keep me in line.”

“Fair enough. I’ll be checking in every now and then, but I’ll trust you two to keep things in order.”

“What’re you talking about, Stanford? These knuckleheads will be fine out there in the real world. C’mon, I mean, we practically raised them ourselves.”

“Heh heh, in that sense, yeah, we did train them for this moment in our own way,” Ford chuckled. The younger twins were now a good inch taller than Stan and Ford, so they both had to reach up to hug Dipper and Mabel.

“Don’t get into too much trouble, kids. Don’t want to have to bail you guys out or anything,” said Stan.

“They’ll be fine, Stanley. They have each other, don’t they?”

“Yeah, Grunkle Stan, we’ll be okie-dokie,” grinned Mabel, giving them a thumbs up.

“Before we go, we have something for you both,” said Ford, reaching into a hidden pocket in his coat. Stan reached for something in his front pocket. They opened their hands at the same time, and the twins gasped.

In their hands were new necklaces. Not a shooting star or a pine tree. These ones were silvery white keys, with swirly ornate designs and little star gems embedded all along the length of the keys. The old men handed them these keys, and they put them on, staring at how beautiful the keys were.

“You like them?” asked Ford. “These ones I designed personally . . .”

“– and I gathered the precious metals and whatnot to help make them -” cut in Stan.

“Yes, yes, and I specifically enchanted them so that you will be able to control your powers and keep them in check. The gems double as anti-Entity shields as well, so there’s no chance of any dark beings using them to take over your minds like last time, and, just like a normal key, they can be used inside the Mind Palace and outside as an encryption mechanism, locking your minds away from anything that might want to take over you. Will you both promise us that you’ll wear these?”

“O-Of course, this is . . .” said Dipper.

“They’re beautiful. Of course, Grunkle Ford, we’ll keep them on forever,” said Mabel, giving Ford a hug.

“Excellent. Well, we should get going,” said Ford. “Oh, yes of course, one last thing.”

Ford looked at Dipper.

“Take good care of her, Dipper. Treat her as you always have treated her: as a best friend and your entire world. You both love each other, not just as siblings; Stanley and I figured out in a heartbeat that there was something more going on between you two,” Ford added, noting the twins’ shocked expressions. “The bond you two share, whether it’s your bond as siblings or something more, it’s something that no villain can defeat.”

“-and don’t worry, we won’t tell your parents, either-”

“Anyways, what we’re trying to say is: is you ever feel like the world is falling apart, if people are trying to break down what you two share, just know that you will always have a home in Gravity Falls to be together.”

“Just, keep it down while you guys are there, alright? The wood’s getting old, so I tend to hear everything that goes on in the house, capiche?” said Stan. Dipper and Mabel nodded simultaneously. Mabel locked hands with Dipper and squeezed. They both smiled.

“Thank you,” they both said, tears forming in their eyes. One final hug, and then Stan and Ford were driving off into the fading sunlight. Mabel waved until their car faded into the distance, but Dipper was looking down at his necklace. The gems glittered in the orange glow of the sun.

“Hey,” said Mabel. Dipper looked up. Mabel had a gentle smile on her face.

“What’s up?” he asked. Mabel gave him a hug.

“Here’s to a future together, eh bro?”

“Yup. Wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

Mabel leaned on his shoulder, and they sat on the porch steps, watching the last rays of sunlight disappear behind the buildings.

Another summer has arrived.


End file.
